Colour and texture characteristics in meat of male and female foals

The effect of livestock production system and sex was studied on the colour and on the texture profile of the longissimus dorsi muscle (LD) from 16- and 24-month-old foals aged 4 days. Besides, the effect of ageing time was also studied on the texture profile between 4 and 8 days. Females from the 16-months group were darker than their counterparts and the 4-day aged steaks of the 24-month-old foals were lighter, redder and yellower. LD muscle of the 24-month-old foals was tougher after 4 and 8 days ageing than that of the younger foals besides in the 24-month-old foals the toughness may have been accentuated by lower growth rate prior to slaughter. Ageing improved tenderness but the rate of tenderisation was different according to age. The colour coordinates a* and b* could differentiate the 4-day aged steaks of the foal samples according to production system to a higher degree than did the compression or WBSF values being b* values the most important colour coordinate which could discriminate the origin of the animals. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.