Animals were stunned by captive bolt
and exsanguinated. The carcasseswereweighed, halved and kept refrigerated
at 4 °C. After 24 h of refrigerated storage, the longissimus thoracis
et lumborum muscle (LTL) was excised from the right half of each
carcass, and the pHwas measured using a pH-meter Orion 9106. Subsequently,
the whole LTL was vacuum packed and stored at 4 °C in the
dark during a 4-day ageing period.