Carcass and meat quality of Boer and indigenous goats of South Africa under delayed chilling conditions

P Pophiwa,E.C Webb,L Frylinck

doi:10.4314/sajas.v47i6.7

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the carcass and meat quality of Boer goats and unimproved indigenous goats of South Africa, under delayed chilling conditions. Ten goats per breed were used for the study. The goats were slaughtered according to standard abattoir procedures. The dressed carcasses were held at 10–15 °C for 6 hours before chilling at 4 °C until 24 hours (delayed chilling). The pH/temperature values, instrumental colour (CIE L*, a*, b*, chroma and hue angle), surface myoglobin pigments (deoxyglobin, oxyglobin and metmyoglobin), water-holding capacity (WHC), thawing loss, cooking loss, sarcomere length, and Warner Bratzler shear force (WBSF) values were evaluated on samples of the m. longissimus dorsi (LD) and the m. semimembranosus (SM). Carcasses of Boer goats were heavier and had higher chilling loss than those of indigenous goats. There were no breed differences in dressing percentages, pH/temperature values or meat quality characteristics. Overall, the mean ultimate pH values (5.75–5.80), were marginally higher than the recommended pH for desirable eating quality. However, the mean L* (36.3–40.2), a* (18.0–18.8), WHC (0.35–0.39) and metmyoglobin (16.3–18.8%) values were within the range that is acceptable for normal meat. On average, LD samples were tender (WBSF values of 4.43 ± 0.40 kg), but SM samples were marginally tough (WBSF values of 8.45 ± 0.54 kg). This study shows that delayed chilling could be a useful strategy in improving the colour and tenderness of goat meat. Keywords : Goat meat quality, meat colour, sarcomere length, tenderness

Highlights

Goat meat is salubrious and conforms to the current consumer demand for lean and nutritious meat (Kannan et al, 2014)
The toughness of goat meat because of cold shortening of rapidly chilled carcasses is a known problem in the chevon industry worldwide (Kannan et al, 2014)
Considering that there are emerging markets for goat meat in South Africa, research should focus on such techniques to improve the quality of goat meat

Summary

Introduction

Goat meat (chevon) is salubrious and conforms to the current consumer demand for lean and nutritious meat (Kannan et al, 2014). In pigs, in which selection for rapid growth and muscularity was studied extensively (McPhee & Trout, 1995), it is possible that the commercial goat breeds of South Africa have divergent carcass and meat quality attributes. More studies are needed to evaluate the carcass and meat quality of South African goat meat breeds using the recommended slaughter technologies. This information gives a good indication of the quality of goat meat marketed in South Africa and provides a basis from which to improve product quality. The aim of this study was to evaluate the carcass and meat quality of Boer and unimproved indigenous goats of South Africa under delayed chilling conditions

Materials and methods

Results and discussion

Conclusion