## 3 Results and Discussion
### Surface Color  
Changes in CIE \(L^{\star}\), \(a^{\star}\), \(b^{\star}\), hue angle, and chroma values throughout the display of deer meat samples are shown in Table 1. The \(L^{\star}\) values of treated and non-treated meat samples did not show a significant difference from each other except on day 14, when the non-treated sample was significantly higher than the treated one. These results are comparable to the results of [PERSON] et al. [24], who reported lactic acid (up to 5%) treated meat had no difference in \(L^{\star}\) value from control except on day one when 2% LA treated meat was lighter (higher \(L^{\star}\) value). However, ref. [15] dipped Biceps femoris steaks in 2% lactic acid for 60 s, whereas [PERSON] and [PERSON] [41] dipped _Longissimus dorsi_ steaks in 0.6% and 1.2% lactic acid for 120 s, and [PERSON] et al. [42] tumbled beef \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Characteristics**} & **Day 1** & **Day 7** & **Day 14** & **Day 21** & **SE** \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{pH} & Treated & 5.60\({}^{\text{b}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 5.57\({}^{\text{b}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 5.33\({}^{\text{a}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 5.38\({}^{\text{a}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 0.06745 \\  & Non-treated & 5.68\({}^{\text{c}}\)\({}_{\text{y}}\) & 5.56\({}^{\text{b}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 5.38\({}^{\text{a}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 5.31\({}^{\text{a}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 0.0843 \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{\(L^{\star}\)} & Treated & 30.2\({}^{\text{b}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 29.1\({}^{\text{ab}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 27.5\({}^{\text{a}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 28.6\({}^{\text{ab}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 0.56051 \\  & Non-treated & 30.3\({}^{\text{a}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 29.4\({}^{\text{a}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 30.0\({}^{\text{a}}\)\({}_{\text{y}}\) & 29.5\({}^{\text{a}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 0.21213 \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{\(a^{\star}\)} & Treated & 9.4\({}^{\text{a}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 9.6\({}^{\text{a}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 11.1\({}^{\text{b}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 11\({}^{\text{b}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 0.44977 \\  & Non-treated & 9.2\({}^{\text{a}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 10\({}^{\text{a}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 11.3\({}^{\text{b}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 11.8\({}^{\text{b}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 0.59494 \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{\(b^{\star}\)} & Treated & 2.0\({}^{\text{a}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 2.4\({}^{\text{b}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 2.1\({}^{\text{a}}\)\({}_{\text{y}}\) & 2.4\({}^{\text{b}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 0.10308 \\  & Non-treated & 2.2\({}^{\text{b}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 2.2\({}^{\text{b}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 1.8\({}^{\text{a}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 2.4\({}^{\text{b}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 0.12583 \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Hue angle (\({}^{\circ}\))} & Treated & 0.21\({}^{\text{a}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 0.24\({}^{\text{b}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 0.18\({}^{\text{a}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 0.22\({}^{\text{b}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 0.0125 \\  & Non-treated & 0.23\({}^{\text{b}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 0.21\({}^{\text{b}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 0.16\({}^{\text{a}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 0.20\({}^{\text{ab}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 0.01472 \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Chroma} & Treated & 9.6\({}^{\text{a}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 9.9\({}^{\text{a}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 11.3\({}^{\text{b}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 11.1\({}^{\text{b}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 0.43842 \\  & Non-treated & 9.4\({}^{\text{a}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 10.3\({}^{\text{a}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 11.4\({}^{\text{b}}\)\({}_{\text{x}}\) & 12.0\({}^{\text{b}}\)\({}_{\text{y}}\) & 0.58768 \\ \hline \end{tabular} Means in the same row within an attribute with no letters in common (a, b, c, superscript) indicate significant differences across storage periods (\(p<0.05\)); means in the same column with no letters in common (x, y; subscript) indicate significant differences in treatment effects (\(p<0.05\)). Comparisons were made on an individual trait level (pH, \(L^{\star}\), \(a^{\star}\), \(b^{\star}\), hue angle, chroma).  
\end{table}