N.S. Mahendrakar

Observations on some chemical and physical characteristics of buffalo meat

Proximate composition, sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar protein fractions of buffalo meat were similar to those of beef. Buffalo meat was also rich in lysine. Meat from young animals had a lower collagen content than that from old ones. As the temperature of holding the carcasses was increased, the rate of pH fall was faster. Meat from stressed animals showed a higher ultimate pH. Percentage of cooking loss and thermal shrinkage was higher in muscles of old animals than in young ones, which probably reflected the poor condition of the older animals. Meat cooked by pressure cooking showed lower Warner-Bratzler shear values as compared with meat cooked in boiling water.

Effect of freezing, thawing and frozen storage on physico-chemical and sensory characteristics of buffalo meat.

A study was conducted on some physico-chemical and sensory characteristics of buffalo meat frozen by plate and blast freezing and stored at -15 ± 3°C for a period of 3 months. A marginal increase in pH values and drip losses were observed during the storage period. Drip losses were less in blast frozen samples. WHC, cooking losses thermal shrinkage and WB Shear values indicated inconsistent results, during storage. Similar observations were recorded with regard to tyrosine and TBA values. No significant differences in the physico-chemical characteristics were observed between meat cuts and minced meat. Plate frozen meat samples scored higher for texture, juiciness and aroma. Both the plate and blast frozen meat samples, however, were similar in overall quality according to taste panel results.

Influence of direct and delayed chilling of excised female buffalo muscles on their textural quality

The excised muscles from the left half of 6 carcasses of old female buffaloes (4-5 years of age) were held, soon after slaughter, at the temperature of 2-3°C for 24 h (direct chilling) and those from the right half at ambient temperature (26±2°C) up to 6 h postmortem followed by chilling at 2-3°C for 18 h (delayed chilling) in order to study the improvement in the texture quality of muscles. During the delayed chilling, the muscle pH decreased to 6.0 (from the initial value of 6.5) in 3 h whereas it took 5-6 h in direct chilling. Reduction in Instron firmness values was 10.3-33.6% and that in cohesiveness values was 13.2-22.2% in delayed chilled muscles compared to direct chilled ones when cooked muscles were sheared along or across the muscle fibres. These observations were statistically significant (P⩽ 0.001) indicating a definite improvement in the texture quality of muscles subjected to delayed chilling. However, no definite trend was observed in the values of elasticity, cooking loss and water holding capacity of muscles due to direct or delayed chilling.

Effect of conditioning and carcass posture on eating quality of mutton from old Bannur ewes.

Twenty-six mature ewes of an indigenous mutton breed, slaughtered and dressed conventionally, were used for the experiment described in this paper. The effect of three different conditioning temperatures and two methods of hanging posture on texture and palatability were assessed on leg muscles. Corresponding muscles from freshly slaughtered ewes were used as a control. A significant reduction was brought about in shear force in SM and BF muscles by different treatment combinations as compared with the control. There was, however, little variation in cohesiveness between treated and untreated BF and ST muscles. Holding carcasses at 14-15°C for 24 h, followed by chilling at 4-5°C for 24 h with pelvic hanging reduced shear values to the optimal level, as validated by sensory tenderness/toughness. The sensory parameters showed a significant difference between pelvic and Achilles tendon hanging. In all treatments pelvic hanging tenderised meat to a significantly greater extent than did Achilles tendon hanging.

Effect of post-mortem conditioning of ewe carcasses on instrumental texture profile of cooked thigh muscles.

The semimembranosus (SM) and semitendinosus (ST) muscles were removed from 18 four to five year old Bannur breed ewes which were slaughtered and carcasses (six each) suspended by the (a) Achilles tendon at 26 ± 2°C for 1 h before cutting (b) Achilles tendon at 2-3°C for 42 h and (c) Pelvis at 26 ± 2°C for 7 h followed by chilling at 2-3°C for 17 h. The muscles were cooked by boiling in a water bath for 30 min or by heating in a pressure cooker for 20 min and the tenderness measured with a Warner-Bratzler tenderometer. Hardness, cohensiveness, elasticity and chewiness were also measured with a General Foods Texturometer. With conventional hanging at 2-3°C the SM muscle was the toughest and the ST muscle the most tender. By holding carcasses at 26 ± °C for 1 h before cooking there was an increased tenderness. The most tender meat was found from carcasses which were suspended by the pelvis at 26 ± °C before chilling. The increase or decrease in shear values were respectively associated with contraction or stretching of muscles effected by carcass conditioning treatments. In contrast, thermal shrinkage due to cooking had opposite effects so that greater thermal shrinkage resulted in lower shear values. The shear values from the Warner-Bratzler tenderometer did not correlate well with the parameters measured by the General Foods Texturometer.