Sensory quality of lamb following long-term frozen storage

•Frozen storage of 1, 9 or 15 months had similar taste properties to fresh meat.•Thawed meat had acceptable taste after 3 d-display in modified atmosphere packaging.•A third of the population preferred thawed meat and fresh meat had lower acceptance.•Visual appearance of thawed meat was acceptable up to 2 d-display in MAP.

The study analysed the effect of frozen storage duration (FSD) on lamb sensory quality. Trained panel evaluated Longissimus lumborum aged for 1 d in unfrozen carcass plus 3 d in modified atmosphere packaging on thawed (1, 9, 15 or 21 month FSD) or refrigerated (0 month FSD) meat. Consumer acceptability test was performed on leg chops (Semimembranosus) kept in the same conditions but those chops for the visual test were retail displayed up to 10 d from packaging. FSD differed on texture variables and fresh meat showed intermediate values among thawed meats for trained evaluators. Consumers gave the lowest acceptability to 21 months FSD and preferred 1 month FSD, being all meats ‘acceptable’. A third of the population scored fresh meat with the lowest acceptance after consumption, although its visual score remained ‘acceptable’ 3 d longer than most of thawed meats. As thawed and fresh meats were equally preferred at short display, consumer concerns about thawed meat might be reconsidered.