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If joints of lamb, prepared by hot-cutting, are conditioned in a carton for 24 hr in air at 1 "C and subsequently frozen, all the meat is tender when roasted from the frozen state, and bacterial counts are acceptable. Legs or shoulders may also be frozen in a carton without conditioning, since toughening does not occur, due to skeletal restrain of muscles. However, it is necessary to condition double loins and double racks to maintain acceptable tenderness.Distortion due to packing in a carton is not a problem with shoulders, double loins and double racks stacked on end, but occurs to a degree in legs. Experiments on cutting after accelerated rigor produced by electrical stimulation showed an improvement in the handling of legs and shoulders, but not loins. Brief blast chilling of a carcass while suspended from the pelvis allowed easy cutting, including long loins, but the rounded conformation characteristic of hot-cut legs and shoulders is lost.