Analysis of quality changes of Hengshan goat hindquarter meat at four storage temperatures

In order to study the storage characteristics of goat meat, meat quality changes of postmortem hindquarter of Hengshan goats stored at − 20 °C for 11 months, 4 °C for 6 d, 10 °C for 60 h and 20 °C for 48 h were investigated. The microstructure, DNA quality, pH, total volatile base nitrogen (TVB-N), meat color, texture, water holding capacity (WHC) and fatty acid content were determined. Correlations between pH, TVB-N and other indicators which might be affected by both were analyzed. Results showed that the changing trends of indicators at four storage temperatures were generally consistent; pH first declined and then rose, whereas the meat color showed the opposite trend (P < 0.05); TVB-N basically reached 15 mg/100 g when the pH reached the minimum (P < 0.05); Texture profile, WHC and fatty acid content decreased with storage (P < 0.05); DNA quality declined at the later stage of storage. Correlation analysis indicated that the pH, TVB-N were little correlated with DNA quality, and negatively correlated with other indicators in general (P < 0.05); the pH was mainly negatively related to meat color (P < 0.05); TVB-N was mainly related to texture and fatty acid content, and the correlation strengthened as the pH increased (P < 0.05). This study revealed the considerable effect of TVB-N value on meat quality changes during pH rising, and provided new insights for assessing meat quality at different storage phases.