# Consumer Characterization of Wet- and Dry-Aged Mutton Flavor Profile Using Check-All-That-Apply
## 2 Materials and Methods
### Consumer Sensory Testing
#### 2.1.2 Sample Preparation for Consumer Sensory Assessment  
It is understood the sensory quality of sheep meat is influenced by factors such as animal age, pH, and production system [30; 31; 32; 33; 36; 39]. Previous investigations comparing the consumer sensory response to wet- and dry-ageing of mutton found sensory differences due to ageing method (wet vs. dry) are relatively small compared to the effect of animal and production factors [43]. Therefore, the investigators elected to use a single carcass to fabricate the samples used in this study, so as to focus on differences due to the ageing method treatments and avoid confounding effects from animal and production factors. A mutton carcass (female animal >2 years old) was sourced from a commercial meat wholesale outlet in Melbourne, Australia, at two days post mortem; before the carcass was prepared for delivery to the University of Melbourne, the carcass had been hung in the wholesalers chiller kept at 0-2 \({}^{\circ}\)C. For delivery to the University of Melbourne, the carcass was prepared by the wholesaler as a 6-way cut (2 \(\times\) bone-in loins, 2 \(\times\) bone-in forequarters and 2 \(\times\) bone-in chump on legs) as described by the HAM (Handbook of Australian Meat) reference 4620 [44]. The forequarters (HAM ref. 4972) and the legs (HAM ref. 4800) were removed from the loins (HAM ref. 4860). The left leg and forequarter were assigned to the dry-ageing treatment and placed on open steel mesh shelves in a Dry Ager DX1000 cabinet (Viking Food solutions, Epping Victoria, Australia) where ageing conditions were 80-85% RH and 0.0-2.5 \({}^{\circ}\)C for 19 days. The right-side forequarter and leg were assigned to the wet-ageing treatment; waxed polypropylene perforated cloth bone guard was applied to any sharp edges. They were then packaged under vacuum into Cryovac(r) ultra-high abuse barrier bags (film thickness = 100 \(\upmu\)m, size = 350 mm \(\times\) 600 mm, oxygen transmission rate of 7 cm\({}^{3}\)O\({}_{2}\)/m\({}^{2}\)/day @23 \({}^{\circ}\)C and 0% R.H., vapor transmission rate of 3 g/m\({}^{2}\)/day @38 \({}^{\circ}\)C) and aged for 19 days. The wet-ageing chiller temperature ranged from 0.0-2.0 \({}^{\circ}\)C. At the end of ageing, the wet- and dry-aged primals were trimmed (that is, any glands or imperfections were removed from the primal) and then the primals were deboned; the leg was deboned as described for HAM ref. 5060 and the forequarter deboned as described for HAM ref. 5047 [44]. In order to reduce any texture variation in the mutton samples, to ensure a focus on flavor and to provide homogenous samples for sensory testing, each treatment (wet-aged and dry-aged) involved mincing the deboned forequarter and leg using a Kenwood Meat Grinder MG450 type MG47 (Target, NSW, Australia); the meat was initially run through the mincer using the largest screen (8 mm) then mixed by hand on a stainless steel benchtop and the mixed coarse mince was then re-run through the mincer using the medium screen (4.5 mm) and mixed again on the stainless steel benchtop. Then, 200 g portions of the mince were weighed and formed into patties using an FED patty press mold (APEX Co. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline \hline
**CATA Term** & **Sensorial Attribute Association** & **Source** \\ \hline Barryard & odor & [30; 31; 32; 33] \\ Livery & odor, flavor & [30; 31; 32; 34] \\ Sheepy & odor, flavor & [30; 31; 32; 35] \\ Juicy & texture & [30; 32; 34] \\ Sweet & odor, flavor & [30; 31; 32; 35; 36; 37; 38; 39] \\ Earthy & odor, flavor & In-house descriptor \\ Metallic & odor, flavor & [31; 32; 34] \\ Savory & odor, flavor & In-house descriptor \\ Roasted & odor, flavor & [34; 37; 40; 41; 42] \\ Acidic & odor, flavor & [30; 31; 32] \\ Fatty & odor, flavor & [36; 37; 38; 39; 40; 41] \\ Fishy & odor, flavor & [31; 32; 40; 42] \\ Caramel & odor & [37; 40; 42] \\ Dairy & Odor, flavor & [33; 34; 36; 38; 39; 41] \\ Sour & flavor & [30; 31; 32] \\ Green/Grassy & odor, flavor & [32; 33; 36; 37; 38; 39; 41] \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}