Effect of Islamic ritual slaughter on beef quality

The aim of this study was to evaluate several quality characteristics of meat obtained from 20 Limousine calves slaughtered either according to conventional methods (n=10) or by the Islamic ritual slaughtering procedure (n=10). After 7 days of ageing under vacuum, pH, drip loss, colour and oxymyoglobin percentage were measured on longissimus dorsi muscle after 2h, 2 and 6 days of storage to study their evolution. With conventional slaughter pH remained stable until the 6th day of storage, while with ritual slaughter it increased from the 2nd to 6th day of storage. Drip loss increased considerably from the 2nd to 6th day of storage in conventional slaughter, while in ritual slaughter the drip loss increase was lower. Meat colour was not influenced by the slaughtering system but only by the different lengths of storage.