Effect of post-stunning bleeding time on physical, sensory and microbial status of rabbit meat

Abstract

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of post-stunning bleeding time on the physical, sensory and microbial status of Rabbit meat. The study was carried out in a completely randomized design with fifteen (15) male Dutch breed of Rabbits with an average weight of 1.7 kg, which were randomly assigned to 5 treatment groups (3 rabbits/treatment). The rabbits were stunned and bled at different time intervals; 0, 10, 40 and 60 minutes (T2, T3, T4 and T5, respectively), Rabbit in the first treatment group (T1) were conventionally slaughtered using Halal method. The processed meat samples where grilled and evaluated for organoleptic, physical, chemical analysis and microbial properties. The results for organoleptic properties showed that there was significant difference (P>0.05) in mean scores for overall acceptability, with grilled rabbit meat from Rabbit bled after 60 minute (T5), having the lowest score (6.40) and highest score at T3 (7.60). The pH values were within acceptable limits (5.5-6.5). Percentage cooking loss, thermal shortening and Water holding capacity were highest in T5. Microbial load for both Bacteria and Fungi on raw and cooked samples were within satisfactory limit (i.e. <1/2 million/g). However, all samples were contaminated with Staphlococci and Bacillus spp. It was concluded that meat from rabbit bled up to 60minutes post stunning does not have adverse effect on the physical parameters, microbial load and overall acceptability of the processed meat as all values were within acceptable limits.

Key words: Rabbit meat; Stunning; Bleeding; Organoleptic; Microbial.