Goat meat quality

Goat meat has been established as lean meat with favourable nutritional quality. Its attributes are concordant with present day consumer demands for leaner and nutritious meat, and hence should be the basis for promoting the meat. Sensory evaluations have shown that goat meat is acceptably palatable and desirable to consumers. The meat may be as acceptable as mutton if animals of similar ages are compared. However, goat meat tends to be less tender and less juicy than sheep meat because of some possible mitigating factors that are discussed. Goat meat has a species-specific flavour and aroma, which differ from that of sheep meat. In terms of appearance, goat meat tends to have a slightly lower a* value than had been reported for sheep meat, but indications are that the colour is acceptable to consumers. The meat tends to have a high ultimate pH, a fact that is at least partly attributed to stressful peri-mortem handling and the related effects on glycogen metabolism. Goat carcasses are less compact and leaner than those of sheep. This has implications on the proportions of primal cuts, separable tissues within the carcass as well as carcass chilling, which affects the quality of the meat. Recommendations have thus been made about the post-mortem handling of goat carcasses, carcass grading/classification systems and that carcass jointing be cognisant of these factors.