Meat quality of lamb frozen stored up to 21 months: Instrumental analyses on thawed meat during display

•Lamb frozen stored up to 1 month had almost the same quality than fresh meat.•Frozen storage shorter than 9 months is feasible for thawed meats later displayed.•Frozen storage up to 21 months could be recommended for meats no later displayed.•Globally, display had a greater effect on thawed lamb quality than freezing itself.

The study analysed the effect of frozen storage duration (FSD: 0, 1, 9, 15 or 21 months) and display duration (DD: 0–24 h post-slaughter-, 3 and 6 days) in modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) on lamb quality. pH, colour, lipid oxidation, water holding capacity and instrumental texture were performed on Longissimus muscle in displayed fresh and thawed meat. FSD affected all the variables showing lower differences between fresh and 1 month storage than among them and longer FSD. Only cooking losses were not affected by DD in thawed meats. It was observed a general decrease in quality (lower redness and water holding capacity; higher yellowness and lipid oxidation) as FSD or DD increased and only texture was improved over DD being thawed meat more tender. In conclusion, lamb storage at − 18 °C should not exceed 1 month if thawed meat would be later displayed in MAP while meat would have an acceptable quality up to 21 months without subsequent display.