Carcasses were ribbed at the 12th-13th rib interface
at 48 h postmortem, and Commission Internationale
de L’ Eclairage ( CIE) L*a*b* (CIE, 1976) reflectance
values were measured on the LM from the right side
with a Minolta CR-200 Chroma Meter (Minolta
Camera, Higashi-Ku, Osaka, Japan) after a
30-min bloom period. Then, carcasses were fabricated
into primal cuts, and the loin and rack were processed
further into 2.54-cm LM chops. Two LM chops from
the ninth thoracic and third lumbar vertebrae were
used to measure CIE L*a*b* values, and three LM
chops from the hindsaddle and three chops from the
foresaddle were wrapped in commercial freezer paper
and frozen for later determination of Warner-Bratzler
shear ( WBS) force and cooking loss percentage
( CL%).