Abstract
Simple SummaryModern consumers are continuously more interested in animal food product qualities that could be considered both extrinsic and intrinsic. Goat products suitably match with these interests because of their functional properties, the ethics of the related livestock production, the environmental impact of production, and animal welfare issues. Through a combination of laboratory analysis and in-field observation, we found that the nutritional quality of goat cheese is affected by the livestock production system, but this is not always true when considering the intrinsic quality related to animal welfare aspects. For this reason, we suggest that more detailed information on different quality traits should be provided to consumers in order to allow them to reach a complete view of product quality and, consequently, to achieve more conscious food consumption.In this study, we investigated the lipid composition of fresh and semi-hard goat cheese produced in three Italian farms as well as the welfare assessment of goats reared in these farms. The fatty acid (FA) profile of cheese samples were found to be strictly related to the livestock system. Cheese collected from farms in which goats were allowed to graze and were fed diets with a higher forage/concentrate (F/C) ratio showed a FA profile represented by higher contents of health-promoting fatty acids. In the same samples, the health lipid indices showed the most favorable values. Conversely, cheese samples collected from a conventional-lowland farm, where goats were fed with higher amounts of concentrates and lower F/C ratio, presented a lower nutritional quality, characterized by the worst results for what concerns the health lipid indices. Then, we built a multivariate model able to discriminate samples coming from farms managed by a low-input system from those coming from farm managed by a high-input system. The comparison of animal welfare measurements and fatty acids data showed that a better intrinsic quality of low-input farms did not always correspond to better extrinsic quality, suggesting that the information on the livestock system is not always enough to provide consumers with complete awareness of the total product quality.
Highlights
Nowadays, a significant interest in dairy goat products has been growing among both the scientific community and consumers, due to spreading knowledge about their functional properties and high nutritional value [1,2,3]
Dairy goat products are generally enriched in the content of short-chain saturated fatty acids 6:0, 8:0, and 10:0, commonly known as caproic, caprylic, and capric acid, considered responsible for the characteristic flavor of goat products [42]
No significant differences were found in the content of such fatty acids among the three farms involved in this study, with the exception of capric acid that was higher in semi-hard cheese samples collected in farm C (9.82%) than in samples collected in farm M (8.37%)
Summary
A significant interest in dairy goat products has been growing among both the scientific community and consumers, due to spreading knowledge about their functional properties and high nutritional value [1,2,3]. Animals 2020, 10, 1567 consumers, especially regarding the ethics of livestock production, environmental impact, and animal welfare issues. These aspects are included in a broader food quality concept that considers the product’s intrinsic quality attributes, and its extrinsic attributes. During recent years, goat products have gradually been associated with consumer perception of innate quality because of their status of being sustainable, traditional, and health products. These features have a fundamental importance for the assessment of these products to the “functional food” business, in which Italy is estimated to generate 11% of the total revenues of the total European market share [5]. Italian consumers are still confused about what functional food products are, even if they are strongly conscious of the existing link between the diet and their health and they have demonstrated increasing interest toward the health implications of their food choices [6]
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