Palatability of venison from farmed and feral red deer

Abstract

AbstractVenison from feral red deer has been exported from New Zealand for many years but the farming of red deer as a commercial enterprise is a recent development. Two independent evaluations, one at the Invermay Agricultural Research Centre and the other at the Meat Industry Research Institute of New Zealand, were carried out to compare the eating qualities of venison from the two sources. Venison from young male red deer raised in three environments (feral, grassfed and feedlot) was analysed for palatability differences. A significant variation (P <0.05) between venison from animals on the same feed was noted. Nevertheless, there was a significant difference (P < 0.05) between venison from feral and grassfed (farmed) deer in the oldest group of animals (27 months) when triangle tests were used. No striking differences between the three venisons in tenderness, juiciness, flavour fullness, flavour acceptability and general acceptability were detected with rating tests although highly significant differences between panelists were found.