Effect of Pre-Slaughter Practises and Early Post-Mortem Interventions on Sheep Meat Tenderness and Its Impact on Microbial Status

Tenderness, together with flavour, is the main quality trait that defines consumer acceptance of sheep meat. The factors affecting tenderness can be grouped as those influenced before slaughter, in the early post-mortem intervention and, finally, during the aging period. These factors have been extensively studied with respect to tenderness, but the impact of early post-mortem interventions and subsequent aging on the microbial quality of the final products has not been broadly reviewed to date. In this review, the authors summarize the most recent knowledge on lamb meat tenderness management and how such practices may impact the final meat quality, especially its microbial status. The impacts of pre-slaughter factors (age, sex, diet, genotype and transport) and post-mortem interventions (chilling regime, electrical stimulation, or hanging method), are described and comprehensively discussed.