Once in the laboratory, muscles were dissected and total dissectible
fat was eliminated manually. Muscles evaluated were M.
infraspinatus (IS), M. semimembranosus (SM), M. biceps femoris
(BF) and M. rectus femoris (RF) from both sides of the carcass, and
M. rhomboideus (RM) and M. longissimus lumborum (LL) from medial
plane of the carcass. Each muscle from the left side of nine carcasses
(Exp. I) was divided into two (proximal and distal) subsamples
while medial plane muscles were split into three (cranial,
middle part and caudal) sub-samples. Sub-sample one (n = 9) –
proximal of the nine left carcass sides and cranial part of the medial
plane muscles – were used. Sub-sample two (n = 15) from the
distal part of the left carcass side muscles and middle part of medial
plane muscles from the nine carcasses of Exp. I as well as distal
part of left carcass sides and middle part of medial plane muscles
from the other six carcasses were additionally used for shelf life
evaluation. Sub-sample three (caudal part of medial plane muscles
and muscles from the right sides) from all carcasses were frozen in
liquid nitrogen, packed in PVC film and stored at 80 C for analysis
of other parameters.
The fresh sub-samples assigned to the panel were sliced into
two replicates for each parameter. Each muscle sample was cut
across the fibers and slices were served to the panel on dark colored
plastic plates. The average for each judge for each parameter
was recorded.