Influence of Hempseed Meal on Fresh Goat Meat Characteristics Stored in Vacuum Packaging

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Hempseed meal (HSM) is a by-product of hemp manufacturing that can be an excellent source of crude protein and fiber in animal diets. Before accepting HSM as a feed ingredient throughout the food animal industry, the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine requires extensive evaluation and documentation of feed ingredients across a species. Hemp contains nine essential amino acids and a healthy balance of the omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. HSM may be a potential new source of feedstuff for animals; however, an understanding of the effects of HSM on meat characteristics is limited in the literature. The current study was conducted to determine whether HSM will influence goat meat quality, shelf stability, or objective tenderness. Including HSM (0, 10, 20, or 30% inclusion rate in the total diet, on an as-fed basis) as a by-product ingredient caused changes to the surface color, postmortem pH, and instrumental tenderness measurements. However, HSM did not cause a deleterious effect on carcass characteristics. ABSTRACT: The objective of this study was to determine the influence of hempseed meal (HSM) on goat meat characteristics. Goats (N = 10/treatment) were allocated to a diet concentration (0, 10, 20, or 30%) of HSM, fed for 60 days, and harvested. Carcass measurements were collected after chilling, and subsequently fabricated into wholesale subprimals. From the subprimals of the shoulder and leg, steaks were cut 2.54 cm thick, vacuum packaged, and assigned to laboratory methods: cook yield, instrumental color, lipid oxidation, microbial spoilage, and instrumental tenderness. HSM did not alter (p > 0.05) carcass characteristics, microbial spoilage, cook loss, or the thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS). However, a decrease in objective tenderness measurements (p < 0.05) was observed with greater concentrations of HSM supplementation in the diet. Instrumental surface color values for lightness (L*) indicated that steaks became lighter and less red (a*) as storage time increased (p < 0.05). Results suggest that HSM and storage time do not alter some goat meat traits, but HSM or storage time separately may influence goat meat quality. HSM may be an effective feed ingredient that does not alter carcass quality or meat yield.