Tenderization of wether lambs meat through pre-rigor infusion of calcium ions

A study involving 36 wether lamb carcasses was conducted in order to evalua te the effects of 0.3 M CaCl2 injection on final tenderness in muscle Longi ssimus thoracis et lumborum. Injection of wether lamb carcasses with CaCl2 accelerated the postmortem tenderization process. Both control and distille d water injected animals had similar Ca2+-dependent proteases (mu-calpain a nd m-calpain) and their inhibitor (calpastatin) activities, whereas these w ere all significantly decreased in CaCl2 injected animals. The effect of Ca Cl2 injection on tenderness was recorded by measuring shear force values 2 and 6 days post mortem. Tenderness was significantly improved by CaCl2 inje ction at both at 2 and 6 days post mortem. It was concluded that activation of mu-calpain and m-calpain was responsible for the observed post mortem p roteolysis and tenderization. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights res erved.