This study examined the effects of different wet-aging times on the
physicochemical characteristics and microbial profile of
longissimus
lumborum
(LL) and
biceps femoris
(BF) muscles from
Korean native black goat (KNBG) meat. The water holding capacity (WHC), pH,
cooking loss, shear force, meat color, free amino acid, total bacteria, and
coliform count of KNGB meat were analyzed at 0, 5, 10, and 15 days of wet-aging
at 4°C under vacuum packaging. The results showed that different
wet-aging times led to significant pH variations between the muscles throughout
the aging period. The wet-aging time did not affect the WHC and cooking loss in
meat from the LL muscle. In the BF muscle, however, meat wet-aged for five days
had a significantly higher WHC and less cooking loss than meat aged for 0, 10,
and 15 days. The meat from the LL muscle wet-aged for five days produced
tenderer meat (low shear force value) than the unaged meat (
p
< 0.05). Moreover, the color was similar in the LL muscle regardless of
the number of aging days. In the BF muscle, the redness (a*) was higher in the
meat wet-aged for 15 days compared to that aged for 0, 5, and 10 days
(
p
< 0.05). Regardless of the muscles, an increase
in wet-aging time led to an increase in the total free amino acids contents in
both muscles (
p
< 0.05). On the other hand, the
tasty/bitter amino acid ratio was significantly higher for five days of wet-aged
meat than 10 and 15 days of aging from the BF muscle. In addition, regardless of
the muscles, the total bacteria and coliform counts were significantly lower for
five days of wet-aged meat than 10 and 15 days of aging (
p
< 0.05). Therefore, chevon wet-aged for five days is an optimal aging
period under vacuum packaging that fortifies meat quality with a minimal
microbial negative defect.