Effect of frozen storage of goat meat on quality parameters stored in the form of chunk and mince in two packaging materials

Abstract

Meat of non-descript type old female goat of more than two years age and meat of young castrated male goat of around 9 months age were procured, chilled to 4±1ºC for 24 hrs and then frozen stored at -10±1ºC in the form of chunks and mince, packaged in low density polythene (LDPE) -300 g (gauge) and high density polythene (HDPE) -200 g for 0, 4, 8, 12 and 16 weeks. Samples of meat were evaluated for pH, water holding capacity (WHC), salt soluble protein (SSP), water soluble protein (WSP), non protein nitrogen (NPN), thiobarbituric acid value (TBA) and microbiological load in terms of aerobic plate count (APC). Overall there was significant (P less than 0.01) rise in pH as the storage period progressed. There was non-significant (P less than 0.01) difference between treatments. The average WHC increased significantly (P less than 0.01) upto 8 weeks (32.87%) and then started decreasing and was lowest at 16 weeks (24.14%). There was significant decrease (P less than 0.01) in WSP as the storage period increased from 0 week to 16 weeks. The average WSP of old female goat meat kept as chunk in LDPE and mince in HDPE increased significantly (P less than 0.01) with respect to young male goat meat (kept as chunk in LDPE and mince in HDPE). There was significant (P less than 0.01) reduction in SSP as the storage period progressed but there was non-significant decrease between 4 weeks and 8 weeks. SSP was 8.53% at 0 week and 4.58 at 16 weeks. The average TBA-values increased significantly (P less than 0.01) at each storage interval. The value increased from 0.28 (at 0 week) to 0.65 (at 16 weeks) mg of malonaldehyde/kg of meat. Mince kept in HDPE of old female goat had significantly (P less than 0.01) higher TBA value than other treatments. There was significant (P less than 0.01) reduction (5.65 log10 cfu/g at 0 week and 5.26 log10 cfu/g at 16 weeks) at each storage interval in APC as the storage period increased.