Thirty-one foals 24 months old from Burguete breed were used to study the meat foal colour oxidation taking the percentage of Metamyoglobin (MMb) as oxidation index. The longissimus dorsi was aged for 4 days. At this point, the meat was analysed immediately after cutting (day 0) and then, it was placed in a plastic foam packaging tray and overwrapped with an oxygen-permeable film until 1 day and 3 days of display. After display, reflectivity between 400 and 700 nm was measured with a spectrocolorimeter Minolta CM-2002, (D_(65) iluminant and 10° observer) and MMb percentage in the muscle surface was calculated [1].After 4 days of ageing only about 7% of the samples showed values higher than 20% of MMb. At day 1 and day 3 of display, 27% and 80% of the samples reached values higher than 20% of MMb, respectively. Thus, foal meat samples aged 4 days with 3 days of display could be rejected due to the foal meat discolouration, and when it is sliced it has a shelf-life of 1 day and no more than 3 days in any case.
展开▼
