2.1. Experiment 1: cooler shrink
Paired half carcasses of 30 Bos indicus bulls at 18 to 30 months of
age were randomly selected. The carcasses were visually inspected for
fat cover, which was classified as absent (less than 1 mm), scarce (1 to
3 mm), average (4 to 6 mm), uniform (7 to 10 mm) and excessive
(more than 10 mm) according to Brazilian standards (Brasil, 1989).
The chilling of half carcasses was conducted in two stages: in a halfcarcass
chilling chamber for the first 24 h and in a quarter-carcass cold
storage chamber for the remaining 72 h.