Effect of High-Pressure Processing on Physico-Chemical and Microbial Quality Characteristics of Chevon (Capra aegagrus hircus)

The quality parameters of chevon pertaining to physico-chemical and microbiological characteristics due to high-pressure processing (HPP) have been studied. Pre-packed meat pieces were subjected to HPP at selected pressures of 300 and 600 MPa for 5 and 10 min at 28 ± 2 °C. Changes in pH, texture, water activity, color, myoglobin, oxymyoglobin, metmyoglobin, microbial profile, and lipid peroxidative parameters in terms of non-heme iron and thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) values after HPP and refrigerated storage (4 ± 1 °C) were examined for a period of 30 days. No statistically significant change was observed in the pH initially, but during 5–15 days of storage, treated samples recorded an increase in pH compared to control. Textural characteristics in terms of hardness and springiness revealed a significant (p < 0.05) increase due to HPP and subsequent reduction during storage. Significant increase (p < 0.05) in hunter color values of L* and b* and significant (p < 0.05) decrease in a* were observed with increase in pressure treatments during storage. The percentage of oxymyoglobin has shown significant (p < 0.05) reduction of 16 % with respect to control at 300 MPa. HPP at 600 MPa also produced significant (p < 0.05) reduction of 40 and 24 % in oxymyoglobin compared to control and 300-MPa treated samples, respectively. HPP at 300 and 600 MPa significantly increased (p < 0.05) the non-heme iron and TBARS values initially and during refrigerated storage. These two chemical markers exhibited a correlation coefficient of r2 = 0.95. Microbial profile revealed better shelf life in terms of safety and quality characteristics due to HPP. Even though changes in physico-chemical parameters were observed in 300-MPa chevon samples, it was significantly (p < 0.05) lower than that of 600-MPa samples and produced a shelf life of 25 days at refrigerated storage. Studies revealed the potential of applying HPP for the development of ready-to-eat meat products by optimizing threshold pressure coupled with identification of proper additives which can suppress the undesirable chemical changes.