About 48 h p.m., meat color traits, i.e. lightness (L*), redness (a*),yellowness (b*), chroma (C*) and hue angle (h°), were measured on a freshly cut surface muscle after a 20 min blooming period at 4 °C, by means of a HunterLab Mini Scan XE Plus 45/0 (HunterLab Inc., Virginia, U.S.) with the standard illuminant D65 and 10° Standard Observer (CIE, 1976). The remaining part of the left loin was vacuum-packed in polyethylene bags, and frozen at −20 °C until proximate analyses.