Influence of carcass weight on instrumental and sensory lamb meat quality in intensive production systems

The effects of cooking viz. pressure-cooking and broiling and storage at 4 °C for six days and -10 °C for 90 days on lipid oxidation and development of cholesterol oxidation products in mutton were studied. Results revealed that cooking of meat significantly increased the total lipids, phospholipids, cholesterol, glycolipids, free fatty acids and glycerides, but they did not change during refrigerated and frozen storage. The TBA values increased on cooking and during storage. However, the values were below the threshold level for rancidity development. The following cholesterol oxidation products were separated by thin layer chromatography cholestanetriol, 7-α-hydroxy cholesterol, 19-hydroxycholesterol, 7-ketocholesterol, cholesterol-α-epoxide, cholesterol-β-epoxide and an unidentified fraction. All these fractions except the unidentified fraction increased on cooking. On refrigerated and even on frozen storage all these fractions increased except the unidentified fraction, which showed a concomitant reduction. The changes in broiled meat were more pronounced compared to pressure-cooked meat. Results clearly indicated that even frozen storage of cooked meat did not prevent the development of cholesterol oxidation products.