Abstract
Serpentina goat is an autochthonous breed from the Alentejo region in Southern Portugal. Meat from kids is a low-fat protein food that meets consumer demand for healthier and leaner meat options. However, meat from older and heavier animals is less appreciated and often sold at low prices or processed. To promote adult goat meat value, a dry aging process in a bag permeable to water vapor was applied. Effects of aging on cooking loss and of aging and cooking on nutritional properties (minerals, protein, ashes, water content, fatty acids and total fat), pH, color, water activity, nutritional claims, reference intakes and nutrition declaration were investigated. Longissimus thoracis et lumborum from five female goats at the end of productive life (8-12 years) were aged 46 days at 2°C ± 2°C and 60%-90% relative humidity. Samples were analyzed after aging, trimming, and cooking in an oven at 150°C until core temperature reached 68°C. Both aging (yield of 72.61% ± 15.2%) and thermal processing led to increased pH values. Aged meat exhibited higher lightness and redness values than regular meat, but cooking increased brightness. In what concerns minerals, potassium content decreased significantly with aging (from 339 to 258 mg/100 g fresh weight), but did not significantly change when cooking the aged meat. The same was observed for magnesium, decreasing only with aging (from 24.7 to 15.2 mg/100 g fresh weight). Minerals like Ca, S and Cu did not change significantly with both processes. A higher concentration of total fatty acids was observed in aged meat, but cooking equalized values between meat samples, with 18:1c9 being the predominant. The n-6/n-3 ratio remained within recommended limits (< 4), generally recognized to have a positive impact on the human diet. Regarding nutritional claims, according to the Regulation (EC) n° 1924 (2006), Serpentina chevon can be considered as "high protein" and as "low saturated fat" food, with exception for the raw aged meat, slightly above the regulatory limit of 1.5/100 g of meat (1.645/100 g of meat). Both aging and cooking processes affected meat attributes, providing important information to optimize meat quality and consumer demands.