Effect of electrical stimulation on quality of tenderstretched chevon sides

Thirty male Black Bengal goats 5-8 years of age, slaughtered at the Kolkata slaughter house, India, by the traditional 'halal' method, were used to assess the effect of electrical stimulation on tenderstretched sides of chevon carcasses. Five groups (T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5) were treated with variable voltages of 35, 110, 330, 550, 1100 with fixed 50 Hz and 10 pulses/s for a duration of 3 min. Different quality parameters, such as, fibre diameter, sarcomere length, water holding capacity (WHC), pH, microbial content and taste panel score were studied at 24 and 48 h post-stimulation. pH, WHC and fibre diameter decreased whereas sarcomere length showed an increasing trend in electrically stimulated meat, which was also microbiologically more stable. The non-stimulated control meat was tougher than the electrically stimulated chevon as evident through taste panel scoring. Treatment 3 (T3), i.e. 330 V, 50 Hz and 10 pulses/s, showed superiority over the other four treatments in the majority of the important meat quality parameters. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.