Herbert W. Ockerman1*, Mete Yanar**,and Hasan Yetim#
*The Ohio State University Department of Animal Sciences
**Ataturk University Department of Animal Science,Turkey
#Ataturk University Department of Food Engineering, Turkey
The objective of this research was to investigate the influence of electrical stimulation (ES) on some organoleptic characteristics of mutton carcasses from old ewes. The evaluation of the histological parameters showed that ES and muscle types did not have a significant effect on the sarcomere length. Nonetheless, the ES improved panel tenderness scores of mutton at the P < 0.06 level. Most of the Instron Warner Bratzler Shear and compression test parameters were not significantly affected by ES at the P < 0.05 level, but these parameters also moved in the direction of increased tenderness for ES samples. It could be suggested that electrical stimulation had a slightly positive effect on the tenderness of mutton tissue from old ewes while juiciness was not significantly affected by either ES or muscle, but cooking loss was significantly higher for the Semimembranosus muscles compared to Longissimus dorsi.
1For more information, contact at: 015 Animal Science Building, 2029 Fyffe Road, Columbus, OH 43210; 614-292-4317; Fax: 614-292-2929, Email: ockerman.2@osu.edu