Quality parameters of hunted game meat: Sensory analysis and pH monitoring

Abstract

The aim of the present research is to propose a new, quick and objective method for the certification of hunted and/or culled wild game meat quality and to monitor its origin and the hunting practices adopted by hunters. The expected deliverable is a new labelling scheme for Italian hunted wild game meat that will guarantee high quality and safety standards for consumers and will decrease transaction costs of the supply chains. During the 2015, 2016 and 2017 hunting seasons, 1,056 hunted wild ungulates were sampled. Specifically, alpine chamois (n=537), roe deer (n=113), red deer (n=342) and wild boar (n=64), which were all hunted in the VCO2-Ossola Nord hunting district (Verbania Province, Piedmont, Italy). Samples of the longissimus dorsi were collected to evaluate the nutritional parameters and the acid profiles of the products. As a measure of meat quality, pH values have been recorded after slaughtering by inserting a probe in the semimembranosus muscle. The results were categorized as DFD (pH≥6,2), intermediate DFD (5,8≤pH<6,2) and high-quality meat (pH <5,8). As explanatory variables for the quality of wild game meat, differences based on age, gender and hunting practices were considered. Concerning the latter variables, measures were collected from animals received at hunting districts control centers by trained technicians who also collected information on the hunting practices, i.e., bleeding and evisceration of the carcasses and number of shots. Nutritional values showed low fat (<3 g per 100 g), low saturated fat (<1,5 g per 100 g) and high protein contents. Furthermore, wild game meat has high values of ω3 and CLA, ensuring a positive ω6/ω3 ratio. Differences were found in the concentrations of fat between age and gender, considering that during the mating season, adult males’ weight loss can exceed 40%. Hunting practices seem to affect meat quality.

Disentangling Individual Phases in the Hunted vs. Farmed Meat Supply Chain: Exploring Hunters’ Perceptions in Italy

“…Furthermore, hunters agreed that the processing practices carried out after killing on the hunted wild boar involve higher health and hygiene risks related to incorrect on-site game dressing. In fact, untrained hunters might compromise the quality of game meat mainly due to errors during evisceration, resulting in bacterial contamination, or suboptimal bleeding operations, impeding the correct acidification of meat [ 4 ]. As shown in Figure 3 all the investigated statements revealed statistically significant differences between the two supply chains ( Figure 3 ).…”

“…Furthermore, hunters agreed that the processing practices carried out after killing on the hunted wild boar involve higher health and hygiene risks. In fact, according to the literature, the evisceration and bleeding are the most critical on-site dressing operations on games and involve bacterial contamination risks and potential deterioration of the meat quality due to muscle acidification issues [ 4 ]. These results show that hunters evaluate themselves in a negative way, in particular owing to the final phases of the production process, reporting overall that they do not trust their own product and consider a product deriving from farmed meat more reliable and safer.…”

“…However, while consumer research is widely used as a tool to explore the market weaknesses and strengths of different food categories, the producers’ side is far less studied [ 3 ]. This is especially true in the case of the newly emerging hunted wild game meat (HWGM) supply chain [ 4 , 5 ], where the growing body of literature is mainly focused on consumers [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ].…”

Longissimus Dorsi Muscle Transcriptomic Analysis of Simmental and Chinese Native Cattle Differing in Meat Quality

“…Therefore, data suggest that the muscle tenderness of Yunling cattle was better than that of Simmental cattle. Various biochemical reactions still exist in muscle postmortem but mainly anaerobic metabolism, constantly generating plenty of lactic acids and other substances, resulting in decreased pH value in muscle (32,33). It was found that the tenderness of muscle was the highest at the beginning of slaughter and then reduced along with the decrease of pH.…”

Evaluation of a nitrite-free commercial preparation in the production of swine and roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) salami

“…Given these characteristics, hunted game meat can also be considered more environmentally friendly than the meat obtained by the intensive livestock farming system, if obtained under strict and regulated hunting practices of course (Ljung et al 2012;Nielsen 2016). More specifically, the public appears to find hunting practices more acceptable if they have some purpose (Gamborg and Jensen 2017), as in the case of the remarkable demographic increase in Italy of red deer and wild boar, which is often considered more of a problem than a resource (Vigan o et al 2019).…”