Study protocol/Measurements

5. Chevon quality

Description of scientific method can become quite technical; nevertheless, it needs to be described precisely so that others can check what was done.

Meat quality measurements will include:

• Chemical composition (CP, EE, ash and DM)
• Tenderness
• pH
• Colour
• Cooking loss
• Fatty acid composition

The dissected lean and fat from the half carcass will be minced and sub-sampled for analysis of CP, EE, moisture and ash using standard AOAC methods.

Tenderness will be measured in a standard sized, cooked sample using shear force tests. The loins (m. longissimus dorsi, L1- L6) will be vacuum packed and frozen at -20⁰C for shear force determinations. The frozen loins will then be thawed for 24h at 2⁰C and cooked in an electric oven until the meat internal temperature reaches 65⁰C. Muscle cores with a cross section of 1x1 cm and at least 3 cm long will be cut parallel to the muscle fibres and shear force values taken using Warner-Bratzler shear force / Instron apparatus mounted in a texture analyser testing machine. An average of at least six replicates will be taken of the maximum force needed to shear a sample perpendicular to the axis of the fibre direction.