Berruga, Vergara, and Gallego (2005) reported that with TBARS
levels of 4.2–7.5 mg of MDA/kg of muscle, the acceptability of lamb
meat decreased because slight off-odours were detected by the sensory
panellists. While others (Campo et al., 2006) have indicated that TBARS
were produced up to 12 mg MDA/kg muscle in beef loins, containing
different concentrations of fatty acids, following 10 days of conditioning
at 1 °C by freezing, thawing and storing. The latter study identified
TBARS at 2.3 as the threshold where rancid or other abnormal flavour
dominated beef flavour enough to make the beef unacceptable to
panellists. From these current and previous research findings we can
state that the build-up of MDA in meat during retail/storage and development of different flavours or rancidity is dependent on animal species, packaging condition, storage length and the level of antioxidant–
prooxidant compounds present in meat.