Effect of Rapid Chilling on Longissimus dorsi Meat Quality of Rabbit

In order to explore the effect of rapid chilling on the edible quality of rabbit meat, Longissimus dorsi meat samples from twenty-four rabbits were subjected to two different treatments, namely rapid chilling and conventional chilling, and quality indices of chilled rabbit meat were then measured. The results showed that rapid chilling ((-12 ± 1 )℃, 30 min), accelerated the declining rate of carcass temperature, attenuated the drop of pH, improved the color of rabbit meat, enhanced water-holding capacity and retarded lipid oxidation within seven days of aging period when compared with the conventional chilling treatment ((0 ± 4) ℃, 24 h). However, the rapid chilling treatment did not exhibit significant effect on shearing stress of rabbit meat.