Effects of Various Packaging Systems on the Quality Characteristic of Goat Meat (Report‪)‬

INTRODUCTION Naude and Hofmeyr (1981) described the goat population as comprising four types, i.e., fibre goats (e.g. Angora, Cashmere), dairy goats (e.g. Saanen, Toggenburg, and Nubian), meat goats (e.g. Boer) and feral goats. The goat is an important meat animal in Africa, Asia, and the Far East, and is now emerging as an alternative, and attractive, source of meat in other parts of the world (Dhanda et al., 2003). Spain has one of the largest goat populations in the European Community. Most of these goats in Spain are dairy breeds, such as Murciano-Granadina, Malagena and the Majorera. However, goat meat production in Spain is high. Carcass weight in Spain is less than 5 kg, and carcasses are cut into small pieces that are packaged to increase value. In recent years, world production of goat meat has been increasing, which necessitates changes for goat meat shelf-life extension. Nowadays, poultry, fish or pork meat are bought by consumers in packages, because by using this technology storage labour is reduced and food safety is enhanced (Chae et al., 2007). Today, the majority of poultry and pork products in developed countries arrive at retail stores as "case-ready" using Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP). The most commonly used gases for packaging meat are carbon dioxide (C[O.sub.2]), nitrogen ([N.sub.2]) and oxygen ([O.sub.2]) (Young et al., 1988). Packaging systems using atmospheric air are not commonly used to package meat, but goat meat is mainly distributed in undeveloped areas, where MAP will not be available.