BASIC CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF FRESH, NON-PACKED AND VACUUM-PACKEDSHEEP-TAIL AND TAIL-FAT STORED FROZEN FOR DIFFERENT PERIODS

Fatty tails were obtained after the slaughter of Morkaraman sheep, whi ch are a common breed of fatty-tailed sheep in Turkey. Fat obtained fr om sheep tails, (called tail-fat) is used either in fresh condition or after frozen storage. This fat is commonly used as a food source in m any countries in which fat-tail sheep breeds are raised; but there has been no detailed research on fatty tails or the tail-fat. In this wor k some quality criteria such as water, fat and nitrogen content, 2-thi obarbituric acid and peroxide numbers, free fatty acids, melting point , iodine and saponification numbers were studied in sheep tails and sh eep tail-fat, both in the fresh condition and after storage at -18 +/- 1-degree-C for up to 60 days. The effect of vacuum packaging versus s torage in netting bags (no-protection, non-packed), was also determine d. The fat content of the tails was around 94%. Thus, the tail is a co ncentrated fat source. Some quality criteria of the tail and the tail- fat were determined and are given in the text. Overall results indicat ed that both the tail and the tail-fat can be effectively used in vari ous types of food and food processing, especially after performing som e technological and refining processing. If the fatty tail has to be s tored, it should be vacuum packed and stored frozen. At -18-degrees-C, vacuum-packed tail samples could be stored around 45 days, but in the netting bags, this storage period should not exceed 30 days.