Physico-chemical quality of buffalo meat under refrigeration

Abstract

Meat is accepted all over the world as a rich source of high quality assimilable protein containing all the essential amino acids. Meat quality per se is contributed by its physic-chemical, biochemical, nutritional, microbiological and organoleptic qualities. Though some of these are predetermined depending on animal physiology, others can be changed by manipulating the meat handling practices. It is learned from the literature that studies on physic-chemical quality of buffalo meat are scanty. Hence the present study was undertaken to assess the various physico chemical qualities of buffalo meat under refrigeration (40C).

Fifteen meat samples were collected from the municipal slaughter house, Kuriachira, thrissur and analysed for PH, water holding capacity, glycogen content, fibre diameter, sarcomere length and organoleptic qualities at 1 h and stored at refrigeration temperature (40C) for further analysis at 8, 24 and 72 h of refrigeration.

The PH and the glycogen content of the samples reduced steadily during the storage period from 1h to 72h. However significant differences in water holding capacity, fibre diameter and sarcomere length were not observed during the course of study. In the organoloeptic evaluation, flavor and tenderness did not differ significantly during different hours of storage, though the meat was significantly juicer (P<0.05) with a score 5.85+ 0.19 at 1 h and reduced further during subsequent hours of storage.