Intrinsic and Extrinsic Factors Impacting Fresh Goat Meat Quality: An Overview

Abstract

Goat meat, known also as chevon or caprine meat, is an important source of protein and essential nutrients in many regions worldwide. To ensure high-quality goat meat production, it is crucial to understand the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that influence its sensory, technological and nutritional properties. This review aims to provide an overview of the factors affecting goat meat quality throughout the production and processing chain. The importance of different factors influencing goat meat quality were described. First, the focus was made on the intrinsic factors, including the effects of age at slaughter, gender (sex), breeds, slaughter weight, and the contractile and metabolic properties of the muscle by discussing their impact in terms of their influence on important intrinsic quality traits such as tenderness, flavor, color and overall quality of goat meat. Furthermore, the extrinsic factors such as production systems, husbandry practices, feeding strategies, types of feed and roughages, antioxidants, feeding systems, climate, season, and environmental conditions were examined in addition to the pre-slaughter treatments, transport conditions, and stress experienced by goats at the time of slaughter. Overall, this review synthesizes current knowledge on both the intrinsic and extrinsic factors affecting goat meat quality. The findings emphasize the importance of a better understanding and optimizing of these factors at each stage of production and processing to ensure the consistent delivery of high-quality goat meat. Further research in these areas will contribute to the development of improved practices and technologies in the goat meat industry.

Enrichment of ruminant meats with health enhancing fatty acids and antioxidants: feed-based effects on nutritional value and human health aspects – invited review

“…It has been reported that feeding goats with a grain diet containing threefold C18:1 compared to an alfalfa hay diet increased C18:1 in both IMF (i.e., marbling) and subcutaneous fat. Thus, when East African goats were supplemented with a grain diet (27% sunflower seed cake + 70% maize bran), the proportions of C18:1, TVA and LA in the omental fat increased compared to non-supplemented goats (Gagaoua et al, 2023). The increase in C18:1 in muscle or adipose tissues in response to higher grain levels in the diet could be due to the increase in the D9 desaturase enzyme activities necessary for the conversion of C18:0 to C18:1, which can also be seen in sheep and cattle.…”

“…Various factors affect the FA composition of goat meat, particularly the diet of the animal. Meat from goats grazing rangeland forages (Liotta et al, 2020) or high-forage diets supplemented with n-3 PUFA sources contain increased contents of n-3 PUFA and the BHIs than those raised intensively on high grain diets (Gagaoua et al, 2023). It has been reported that feeding goats with a grain diet containing threefold C18:1 compared to an alfalfa hay diet increased C18:1 in both IMF (i.e., marbling) and subcutaneous fat.…”