Nutritional composition, descriptive sensory analysis and consumer acceptance of processed red-billed quelea bird's meat in Tanzania

Abstract

Consumption of red-billed quelea birds, as an alternative affordable source of meat and proteins is common in various low-income resource communities in African countries, including Tanzania. However, information on nutritional quality, sensory profile and consumer acceptance of the processed bird's meat products is limited. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the proximate composition, descriptive sensory profile and consumer acceptance of processed quelea bird meat. A total of 465 live male birds were obtained from hunters in Kelema village located in Chemba District, Dodoma region. The birds were slaughtered, and their meat was processed by boiling, deep-frying and grilling before being subjected to nutritional composition and sensory analyses using standard methods. Moisture, protein, and fat contents varied from 56.7 to 60.6, 26.9 to 31.3 and 3.0 to 4.4 g/100 g fresh weight (FW), respectively, whereas energy values ranged from 158.7 to 177.1 Kcal/g FW. Sodium was the most abundant mineral in the meat samples (505.9-546.7 mg/100g FW). There were also significant (p<0.05) differences in the meat samples' proximate composition parameters and mineral contents between the processing methods. Grilled meat samples had significantly (p<0.05) higher intensities for juiciness, tenderness, aroma and consumer acceptance than processed samples. Therefore, processed quelea bird meat is rich in nutrients with appealing sensory properties. Hence, their consumption as an alternative source of meat and proteins in the study area and country at large is recommended.