Abstract: Mutton quality can be affected by many factors and feed composition can impact sheep growth performance, mutton yield, fatty acid composition, oxidation state, antioxidant capacity, color, glutathione peroxidase, cholesterol content, microbial species and quantities, quality stability during storage, and mutton product flavor characteristics, consumer acceptance and so forth. Slaughtering methods and ante-mortem fasting strategies can also affect mutton color and water-holding capacity, and processing methods, supplementary materials and packaging and storage environments can affect physical and chemical properties of meat products and quality stability during storage. The factors that may affect the quality of mutton and its products are summarized in this paper, with the aim of providing useful information for mutton production, processing and storage.

Key words: mutton, feed ingredients, natural active materials, fatty acids, shelf life