Sheep is easy to raise, require less capital, has short production cycle and prolific. But farmers are raising limited number of sheep because there was no ready market for fresh mutton. Mutton and lamb are cooked and served only during special occasions. Disposing and selling the animals at a right time has a greater impact on income derived from venturing to animal production. To encourage farmers to venture on sheep production, ways must be designed and developed on how to utilize mutton or lamb aside from fresh meat. Hence, the study was conducted to develop mutton/lamb-processing technologies in order to prolong the shelf life of mutton and improve the marketability of mutton.

Preparation of the Mutton Skinless Sausage and Burger Patty. Meat was washed with distilled water and utensils used were washed with purified water to ensure lesser if not eradicated contamination of product.

A. Skinless Sausage

The recipe was composed of 650 g mutton and 350 g pork backfat and the ingredients used were: salt, curing salt, phosphate, vitamin C, textured vegetable protein (TVP), carageenan, sugar, ground black pepper, finely chopped garlic, paprika powder, pineapple juice, MSG, food color, meat enhancer and chilled water. The meat was weighed and cut into cubes and then ground using the meat grinder with the fine perforators. The needed ingredients were measured and the powder ingredients were dissolved in liquid ingredients by stirring. The ingredients were thoroughly mixed to the meat. The mixture was allowed to cure for 24 hours in the refrigerator. Then, it was filled in cellophane with a diameter of 1 1/2 cm to 8 cm. The sausage were packed in plastic sealed container and stored in a freezer until cooking.

B. Burger Patty

The burger patty was composed of 500 g mutton and 500 g pork lean and the ingredients used were: salt, phosphate, isolate, TVP, carageenan, sugar, ground black pepper, chopped garlic, MSG, meat enhancer, finely chopped onion, celery powder, hamburger seasoning, milk powder, fresh egg, potato starch, and chilled water. The meat was weighed and cut into cubes and then ground using the meat grinder with fine perforations. All needed ingredients were measured. The egg was beaten thoroughly. All ingredients were mixed together and then thoroughly mixed to the meat until the mixture became tacky. The mixture was allowed to cure for 2 to 4 hours in the refrigerator. Then patties were formed by placing and pressing the spoonfuls of chilled mixture in a molder laid in a piece of cellophane. The patties were packed in a plastic container and stored in freezer until cooking.

Procedure in Cooking the Skinless Sausage and Burger Patty

The skinless sausages were cooked by heating the frying pan using a high flame. Then little amount of oil was added and the stove was set to low flame before placing the sausage which was rolled from now and then until it became brownish in color.

Patties were cooked by frying in the pre-heated pan with little amount of oil with continuous turning. The patties are already cooked if both sides turned to bright light brown in color.

Microbial Analysis

Samples of the processed products were submitted to the Micro Laboratory at the College of Arts and Sciences for microbial analysis. Samples were submitted just after mixing, one week, two weeks, three weeks, one month and two months. This is to monitor the presence and absence of food borne pathogens for hygienic measures.

Data Gathering Procedure

The two mutton recipes, skinless sausage and mutton, were placed in coded cups and served to taste panelists with fork, drinking water, evaluation sheet and pencil/ballpen. Each evaluator was required to drink water first before they are going to taste the product and from one product so that it will not affect the evaluation of the next product.

Each member panelist evaluated first the smell or aroma then the color or appearance followed by the taste of flavor, texture or mouthfeel, and last was the general acceptability. These criteria were evaluated using the 9-Point Hedonic Scale where 9 is the highest and 1 is the lowest. The products were rated as: 9 - Like Extremely, 8 - Like Very Much, 7 - Like Moderately, 6 - Like Slightly, 5 - Neither Like or Dislike, 4 - Dislike Moderately, 3 - Dislike Slightly, 2 - Dislike Very Much, and 1 - Dislike Extremely.

Data Analysis

Descriptive Statistics (average) was used.