Castration and slaughter age effects on fat components of "Mestico" goat meat

The effect of castration and slaughter age on fat, cholesterol, phospholipi ds and fatty acid contents was determined for muscles of native Brazilian g oat meat. Groups of castrated and intact "Mestico" goats were slaughtered a t 175, 220, 265 and 310 days of age. Castration and slaughter age had a sig nificant effect on total cholesterol and fatty acids contents. The choleste rol content increased with advance in slaughter age. Meat from castrated go at had a higher cholesterol content than that from intacts. Goat muscle con tained mostly C18:1 (38-44%), C18:0 (23-25%), C16:0 (18-21%), and C18:2 (4- 6%,) fatty acids. There were no differences in levels of saturated, unsatur ated and polyunsaturated fatty acids among the four groups slaughtered at d ifferent intervals. Castrated goat meat contained significantly greater uns aturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids than that of intacts. Total fat an d total phospholipids percentages ranged from 3.0 to 3.4 g/100 g and 10.6 t o 11.1mg/100 g, respectively for intact and castrated goats. (C) 2001 Elsev ier Science B.V. All rights reserved.