Prediction of Moisture, Ash, Fat and PH in Both Intact Goat Cuts and Individual Muscles Using a Portable Near-Infrared Spectrometer

Abstract The objective evaluation of goat meat (e.g. quality and composition of different cuts and muscles) is important in developing and developed economies. These methods are essential to monitor meat composition from different production systems and aid in enterprise profitability. This study aimed to evaluate the ability of a portable near infrared (NIR) instrument to predict the proximate composition [moisture (M), ash, fat] and pH in intact goat cuts and individual muscle samples collected from a commercial abattoir. Intact cut and individual muscle samples were analysed using proximate analysis and scanned using a portable NIR instrument (900 – 1650 nm). The cross-validation statistics including the coefficient of determination (R 2 CV ) and the standard error in cross validation (SECV) were 0.76 (SECV: 0.62%), 0.73 (SECV: 0.47%), 0.72 (SECV: 0.24%) and 0.80 (SECV: 0.20) for the prediction of M (%), fat (%), ash (%) and pH in the combined goat cuts and individual muscle sample set, respectively. Separate calibrations were also developed for each of the individual muscles analysed where the R 2 CV and SECV ranged between 0.75 to 0.80 (SECV: 0.79 to 1.26%) and between 0.69 to 0.73 (SECV: 0.14 to 024%) for moisture (%) and pH, respectively. It was concluded that NIR spectroscopy could determine the proximate composition (%M, %fat and %ash) and pH of intact goat cuts and individual muscle samples.