The impact of diet on the quality of fresh meat and smoked ham in goat

Effect of salting and ripening on the physicochemical and sensory quality of goat and sheep cured legs

“…Also the a w decreased successively from the slaughter to the salting and from there to the end of ripening period with a w values significantly different between sheep and goat, 0.87 and 0.83 respectively. The values found were similar to those found by several authors: for meat cured products from different species (Paleari, Moretti, Beretta, Mentasti, & Bersani, 2003) including the goat bresaola although with an pH value higher (6.48); for smoked goat ham (Ivanovic, Nesic, Pisinov, & Pavlovic, 2016); for goat and sheep meat cured mantas (Oliveira et al, 2014); as well for sheep and goat cured legs submitted at different ripenning periods (Tolentino et al, 2016) or also for beef cecina (Molinero et al, 2008). The pH and aw values found for us showed that could be an important role in controlling the meat spoiling promoting safety and shelf life stability of the products with respect to microbial growth.…”

“…In the two products the L*, b* and a* values decreased from the slaughter until the end of ripening period as was expected along the decrease of a w and as a result of salt action causing losses water and reduction of myoglobin concentrations. Similar situation was found by Ivanovic et al (2016) evaluating the evolution of color of fresh goat meat to smoked ham. The low values of b* in our products compared with similar products from other species mainly pork ham could be due to the low fat level of goat and sheep cured legs, 6 and 7.9% respectively as it was shown in Table 2.…”

“…The sodium chloride content expressed in NaCl % was significantly different (P ≤ 0.001) 3.8 and 4.7% for goat and sheep ham, respectively and was similar to the content found by Ivanovic et al (2016) for goat smoked ham (4.5%). If we consider the amounts of salt in ham produced in the first half of the twentieth century (> 6%) (Lineback & Stadler, 2009) the 4% of our products seem be acceptable.…”

“…The moisture content ranging 36% was similar to the percentage found by Ivanovic et al (2016) for the goat smoked ham and lower than the value found for goat bresaola (47.8%) is relatively lower than the value found by Hierro et al (2004) for goat cecina which was 64%.…”

“…The pH and aw values found for us showed that could be an important role in controlling the meat spoiling promoting safety and shelf life stability of the products with respect to microbial growth. Ash content ranging 8-9% is in the intervals found by other authors for cured products as Paleari et al (2003) and Ivanovic et al (2016). The ash content is much higher than that found by Oliveira et al (2014) between 1 and 0.6% for sheep and goat "mantas", respectively.…”