• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.287-292
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of ageing time on the meat quality and sensory characteristics of longissimus muscle in Jeju horses. Twenty four horses were slaughtered after 16hr fasting. Longissimus muscle was separated from the left half of the carcass after 24hr chilling. The muscle was sliced into 3cm-thick steaks for analysis. Steaks were vacuum packaged and aged at around 4℃ for 1, 3, 7, 12, 18 and 25 days respectively. Longissimus muscle pH was not influenced by ageing (P>0.05). But shear force values of the muscle decreased during ageing time (P<0.05). Water holding capacity, color characteristics, cooking loss and purge loss considerably increased as the ageing time increased (P<0.05). Also ageing had a very important effect on flavor, juiciness, tenderness and palatability characteristics (P<0.05) evaluated by the panel. Flavor and palatability were the most acceptable when the ageing time was 7 days, whereas, juiciness was 12 days. These results suggest that ageing improves the quality of horsemeat by increasing the meat tenderness, water holding capacity and sensory characteristics. Therefore Jeju horse meat need 7-12 days ageing period to obtain an optimum acceptance.