Mutton is in great demand in many areas of the world because of its tenderness, delicious taste, low calorie content, high protein and essential amino acid content, and trace element abundance (Zhang et al., 2021). Mutton is highly perishable if appropriate preservation methods are not applied (Olaoye & Onilude, 2010). Frozen storage is considered an excellent method for long-term meat preservation.At present, −18°C has been extensively adopted as the standard operational temperature for meat preservation in countries including China (Wang, Liang, et al., 2021). The temperature can maintain acceptable quality and prevent spoilage in mutton for more than 1 year (Muela et al., 2015(Muela et al., , 2016. Freezing processes slow down microbial growth and inhibit microbial contamination (Pinheiro et al., 2019) and thus maximize the original meat color, taste, texture, and nutrition during long-term storage and thus minimize quality deterioration (Al-Sabagh et al., 2016). In addition, the meat industry typically employs freezing methods to stabilize the prices of mutton during slaughter animal shortage periods (Pietrasik & Janz, 2009).Large amounts of meat and meat products are lost or wasted annually, mostly because of sensory degradation due to spoilage