A review of fresh lamb chilling and preservation

The aim of this review was to summarise the methodologies used nowadays for lamb chilling and new improvements for extending fresh lamb shelf-life. The time required for lamb carcasses chilling is reduced to 7 h by ultra-rapid chilling, allowing distributors to dispatch carcasses the same day. Refrigeration just above the freezing point, known as superchilling, extends meat shelf-life due to reduction of microbial growth and enzymatic reactions. Refrigerated storage is commonly combined with modified atmosphere packaging for providing a desirable colour to meat adequate for retail selling, although display life is limited by microbial growth and lipid oxidation. These problems may be solved by adding plant extracts onto the package film, which is the basis of active packaging. In contrast, vacuum packaging can be used for wholesale or storage, but it has an undesirable colour for retail selling. New vacuum skin packaging might improve the benefits of vacuum packaging.