Spray chilling of lamb carcasses

Two spray-chilling treatments were developed to improve appearance and reduce weight loss during lamb chilling. Rates of cooling and weight loss and meat quality were compared to conventionally chilled carcasses.

The first treatment was an intermittent spray during the first 3 h of chilling. The second consisted of only two sprays at 2 h and 10 h post mortem. The conventional control was a two-stage process, with air at 10°C and 1 m/s up to 10 h post mortem, followed by air at 0°C and 1 m/s for a further 14 h.

Both treatments significantly reduced weight loss at 24 h post mortem compared to conventional, from 2·20% to 0·86% and 1·20%, respectively. During a further 4 days storage, the savings were maintained, with weight losses being 3·97%, 2·97% and 3·19%, respectively.

There were small (<1 h) but significantly reductions in the cooling times of spray-chilled loins and legs, attributed to sustained evaporative cooling of the continually wetted surfaces.

No effects on texture or drip loss and only slight effects on surface lean and fat colour were found. Variation in texture between animals within treatments was far greater than between treatments and could not be accounted for by variations in cooling rates.