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Few foods can match the extraordinary gustatory satisfaction derived by the consumer, consuming meat, a fact well exemplified by the continued existence of meat as the central item of the diet in most affluent socieites despite the advent of several nutritionally comparable meat analogues.
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Meat palatability includes factors such as colour, flavour, juiciness, tenderness and texture
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Species, breed, animal, age, sex, diet and postmortem handling techniques influence these factors.
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The factors of sensory characteristics may be classified as follows:
Eating quality characteristics
Tenderness
Juiciness
Flavour
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Flavour is a complex sensation.
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It involves odour, taste, texture, temperature and pH.
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Of these the odour is the most important.
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It is sensed jointly by the oral and olfactory senses.
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The odour and taste of cooked meat arise from water or fat-soluble precursors and by the liberation of volatile substances that exist in the meat.
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Meat samples should be smelled first followed by tasting for a rational and sound flavour perception of several volatile components present in meat.
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These components are significantly marked when meat is cooked.
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Flavour has been shown to have a profound effect on the overall acceptability of meat products.
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The duration and temperature of cooking influences the nature and intensity of odour and taste in meat.
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This is a gradual loss of flavour during storage; this may occur even in frozen conditions.
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Flavour of fresh raw meat is weak, salty and serum-like.
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Fresh meat fat also has almost indistinct taste and odour.
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It is during cooking that flavour get pronounced and become meaty.
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Fresh cooked beef is metallic and astringent.
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Veal flavour is sweet and flat.
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Pork flavour is regarded sweet and bland.
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Sex odour is more pronounced in male.
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Pork from boar has defined piggy odour or boar taint.
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During long-term storage, most meat develop rancid odour due to fat oxidation.
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It may be muttony, tallowy for beef and stale, cheesy or fishy for pork.
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In case the meat is spoiled during storage, it emanates putrid odour due to protein decomposition.
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When cooked meat is stored for along time, myoglobin catalysed fat oxidation takes place yielding a distinct warmed-over flavour.
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Canning imparts canned-meat flavour to meat products due to sever heat treatment.
Colour
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The pigment of muscle, myoglobin, is responsible for the colour of meat.
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The appearance of meat surface to the consumer depends, however, not on the quantity of myoglobin present but on its chemical state.
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Factors responsible for the variations in the quantity of myoglobin in the muscles are the activity of the muscle during life.
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The differences may also be due to species, breed, sex, age type of muscle and training.
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In fresh meat, before cooking, the most important chemical form is oxymyoglobin.
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It occurs in the surface and is bright red in colour.
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The colour of myoglobin is purplish red.
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Consumer relates the appearance and colour of meat to safety and healthiness.
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Consumer relates the colour of cooked meat to doneness.
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The final colour of cooked meat is dependent to the pigment changes brought about by temperature, time and method of cooking.
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When meat is cooked there is gradual change of colour from dark red or pink to a lighter shade and finally at higher temperatures to grey or brown colour.
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Pressure-cooked or boiled meat will discern a grey colour whereas roasted; broiled or canned meat turns brown.
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The brown colour of thoroughly cooked meat is due to denaturation of heme pigments and polymerization of some proteins and fats.
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The colour of fresh pork, mutton and buffalo fat is white and undergoes very little change during cooking.
Texture
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Texture is one of the most important eating quality attributes in the acceptance of meat.
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The overall impression of texture is perceived by the senses of touch, sight and hearing.
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Texture is a direct consequence of the grain in fresh meat.
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