EFFECT OF TRADITIONAL MARKETING CONDITIONS ON MEAT QUALITY

Abstract

This experiment was conducted to study the effect of traditional marketing on the quality of meat that displayed under retail meat market conditions. Same cuts of Lamb and Beef samples were obtained twice a day, morning and evening from the same retailer shop. Chemical, physical and microbiological analyses were conducted, and then both samples were kept under freezer storage at –18ºC for 30 days. Then, same chemical, physical, microbiological analyses were done, in addition to sensory 5 evaluation of samples in color, tenderness, juiciness, flavor and overall acceptability, using a 7-point hedonic scale method. Significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) were observed between morning and evening samples in chemical composition, physical and microbiological analyses of both meat types (Lamb and Beef) at first day of storage and after freezer storage. Approximate analyses of (morning-evening) lamb samples showed significant differences at first day of storage (p ≤ 0.05) in protein (20.05-19.61%), fat (2.92-2.16%) and ash (1.06- 1.20%). While same constituents represented (19.50-19.13%), (1.36-0.77%) and (1.05-1.03%) respectively after freezer storage. As for (morning-evening) beef samples protein, fat and ash represents: (18.75-18.88%), (1.97-1.69%) and (1.01- 1.08%) respectively at first day of storage and (17.78 -17.75%), (1.53- 1.28%) and (0.86-0.78%) after freezer storage respectively. There were also significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) among (morning-evening) samples of both lamb and beef in moisture percentage at first day of storage, which represented (74.04-71.50%) in lamb and (72.66-70.90%) in beef, while after freezer storage represented (66.68-64.52%) and (70.07- 67.04%) respectively. The pH values appeared slightly significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) among (morning-evening) samples of both lamb and beef, which represented (5.41-5.41) in lamb and (5.08-5.09) in beef, while after freezer storage represented (5.22- 5.06) and (5.10-5.04) respectively. (morning-evening) lamb and beef samples differed significantly (p ≤ 0.05) in water holding capacity (WHC), which represented (2.03-0.28) in lamb and (2.16-1.24) in beef at first day of storage, while after freezer storage represented (1.41- 0.20) and (1.55- 0.96) respectively. There were significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) among (morning-evening) lamb and beef samples in cooking loss, which represented (40.49-37.08%) in lamb and (36.54-34.16%) in beef at first day of storage, while after freezer storage represented (33.43- 30.55%) and (32.48-29.41%) respectively. This study indicated that, there were significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) in meat color pigments between (morning-evening) samples of both meat types, where lightness “L” represented (29.60-28.80) in lamb and (27.17-24.90) in beef at first day of storage, while after freezer storage represented (31.70-30.10) and (31.70- 30.10) respectively. As redness “a” represented (23.10- 23.20) in lamb and (24.00- 19.40) in beef at first day of storage, while after freezer storage represented (31.70-30.10) and (16.80-15.20) respectively. Yellowness “b” represented (6.40- 7.20) in lamb and (7.20- 6.20) in beef at first day of storage, while after freezer storage represented (9.40-9.70) and (9.70- 8.60) respectively. The results of microbiological analysis expressed as (log10 cfu/g), showed 6 significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) among (morning-evening) samples, where Total Bacterial Count represented (3.50-4.92) in lamb and (3.35-4.77) in beef at first day of storage, while after freezer storage represented (3.80-3.96) and (3.77-4.00) respectively. Staphylococcus aureus represented (2.69- 3.43) in lamb and (2.83-3.65) in beef at first day of storage, while after freezer storage represented (2.60- 3.24) and (2.74-4.70) respectively. Yeast and molds represented (0.00 -0.00) in lamb and (0.00 -0.00) in beef at first day of storage, while after freezer storage represented (2.71- 2.19) and (2.32-2.16) respectively. As Lactic acid bacteria represented (2.27- 3.69) in lamb and (2.25-4.96) in beef at first day of storage, while after freezer storage represented (0.00 -0.00) and (0.00 -0.00) respectively. The slight growth of Coliforms bacteria and Salmonella which occurred on evening lamb and beef samples were inhibited during freezer storage. The sensory evaluation showed that, there were significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) among (morning-evening) samples of lamb and beef in color, flavor, juiciness, tenderness and overall acceptability. Evening lamb sample had the highest score (4.60), followed by the evening beef sample (4.30), whereas morning lamb and beef samples had the lowest score (4.10) and (2.73) respectively. The study indicated that the traditional marketing of meat in retail meat market had affected chemical properties, quality attributes as (color, water-holding capacity and cooking loss) beside microbial load of meat. Also freezer storage of meat samples had slightly changed in chemical properties and microbial load, whereas freezer storage clearly affected meat quality attributes.