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

A study involving 36 wether lamb carcasses was conducted in order to evaluate the effects of 0.3 M CaCl2 injection on final tenderness in muscle Longissimus thoracis et lumborum. Injection of wether lamb carcasses with CaCl2 accelerated the post mortem tenderization process. Both control and distilled water injected animals had similar Ca2+-dependent proteases (μ-calpain and m-calpain) and their inhibitor (calpastatin) activities, whereas these were all significantly decreased in CaCl2 injected animals. The effect of CaCl2 injection on tenderness was recorded by measuring shear force values 2 and 6 days post mortem. Tenderness was significantly improved by CaCl2 injection at both at 2 and 6 days post mortem. It was concluded that activation of μ-calpain and m-calpain was responsible for the observed post mortem proteolysis and tenderization.