Assessment of the chemical and microbiological quality of the game meat for family consumption

Abstract

Wild game meat consumption is usually consumed in the families of hunters, without any professional postmortem inspection performed by an official veterinarian. Because of that, the hygienic quality of this type of meat is unknown and the consumers choose to prepare at home these product by application of boiling for couples of hours, in order to be sure that the meals are safe. Sometime, wild game meat is processed in meat products, like salami, sausages or pastrami, and not all the time heat treatment is used. Hence, the hygienic quality, and especially microbiological quality is very important, in order to protect the health status of consumers. The aim of this study was to assess the chemical and microbiological quality of wild game meat intended for family consumption. During November 2017 – May 2018, 20 samples were collected from different species: deer, roe deer, wild boar and bear. The samples were collected three different hunting areas, located in Maramureş and Bistriţa County. All the samples were analyzed for chemical composition using FoodScan equipment: moisture, protein, fat, and collagen. Aerobic plate count, Enterobacteriaceae, and E. coli were analyzed using standardized methods. Chemical composition of game meat is characterized by a lower fat and moisture content, and a higher protein value when compared with farm animals. The highest protein content was recorded in the case of bear and the lowest in case of roe dear meat The lowest values of the fat was found for deer and the highest in case of bear meat. The presence of germs belonging to the Enterobacteriaceae family and E. coli demonstrates non-compliance with hygiene rules during the skinning, evisceration process. Although microbial load has been much higher in comparison with farm animals, we consider these values to be acceptable given the conditions of processing wild game meat (lack of hygiene conditions during processing and abuse transport temperature to the consumer's home in warm seasons). Game meat is considered to be a high-quality product, which can represent an increase food source alternative, because of its high nutritional value and the consumer's interest in healthier products in terms of the absence of chemical residues.