Glass transition temperature (Tg) of complex food systems like chicken and mutton depends on several factors. Hence the reported values of Tg for these food systems varied from sample to sample. Present study was an attempt to investigate various parameters such as annealing temperature and time employed, moisture content of the sample, rate of heating during DSC scan etc. affecting the calorimetric determination of Tg. Varying one parameter at a time and by keeping all others constant, the influence of these parameters on Tg, were investigated. As annealing temperature decreased from -11 degrees C to -23 degrees C, Tg values for chicken and mutton shifted towards lower temperatures. Similarly annealing time up to 1 h also significantly influenced Tg values. Initial moisture content of the meat samples was also found to influence Tg values. Rate of heating employed during the DSC analysis, played a vital role in the Tg determination. This study delineated the effect of these parameters on glass transition temperature and helped in optimizing DSC protocol for calorimetric determination of Tg for chicken and mutton samples. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.