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Increasing global population has resulted in a corresponding increase in global demand for meat and milk. For high quality milk, the demand is particularly for goat's milk due to consumers' increasing awareness on its benefits. However, there remain negative perceptions associated with goat's milk. Therefore, research on new feeding formulation (NFF) has to be undertaken to improve goat's milk production and quality assurance. In the present work, a sensory evaluation was performed to analyse the characteristics of four different samples of fresh goat's milk; two commercial, and two non-commercial. Face-to-face interviews using a structured questionnaire were conducted, utilising the Central Location Test (CLT) with 828 respondents being selected through the purposive sampling method. Data were analysed using descriptive analysis and one-way ANOVA. Based on the descriptive analysis outcomes, majority of the respondents (n = 662) had an experience consuming goat's milk. They also perceived goat's milk as fatty (n = 362) and sweet taste (n = 147). One-way ANOVA analysis on respondents' perception indicated their desires for goat's milk with attributes that are medium white, slightly weak of goaty aroma, and slightly viscous. They also favoured slightly sweet, slightly not salty, slightly creamy, and medium fresh milk. Next, the acceptance level of goat's milk attributes of four different samples showed that sample B (researched sample) scored higher ranging between 5 (either like or dislike) to 7 (medium like), as compared to the other samples. Importantly, most respondents (59.7%; n = 494) chose sample B as the most preferred milk. Therefore, the findings of the present work provided a solid basis in understanding the sensory characteristics of goat's milk most preferred by consumers to be used in product development and quality assurance by food processors and marketers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to provide findings of an investigative study on the baseline status of the pork quality in Malaysia. With consumer preferences changing towards the selection of good quality meat for consumption, there is a need to establish an investigative reference for the operators in the industry to gauge the performance of their animals and pork quality. This is also important to increase the competitiveness among producers to continuously improve the pork quality available to consumers. In this study, 30 commercial three-way crossed female pigs were randomly selected from government accredited abattoirs from east and west Malaysia and longisimus dorsi were collected for the determination of pH, drip loss, cooking loss, shear force and colour. All animals were screened for the RYR1 gene and the results were then compiled with statistical analysis to obtain an investigative baseline pork quality data in Malaysia. The average pork quality obtained from this study falls within the category of Red, Soft and Exudative (RSE), with an average ultimate pH of 5.83, drip loss more than 5% and L* values at 45.94. We have proposed an investigative baseline meat quality data for Malaysian pork from the average commercial pork quality data obtained. The proposed investigative pork quality baseline data in Malaysian is comparable in terms of studies done in other established countries and/or with international standards and falls within the RSE category of acceptable quality. It provides an investigative benchmark for researchers and end-producers to judge the quality of pork in an objective manner, both for consumption and for export purpose. Moreover, continuous selection against the RYR1 gene has successfully removed the gene from the sample size above, but constant random monitoring is still advisable if farms aim to ensure the elimination of this gene from their herd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inclusion of oil palm fronds (OPF) pellets (200 g kg-1 DM) in a complete animal feed has been found to increase the unsaturated fatty acid content in ruminants. However, given the low-fat content of OPF (21 g kg-1 DM), changes in ruminal fatty acid (FA) metabolism will only result in nutritionally relevant differences in animal tissues when OPF enhances conservation of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) from external sources. Additionally, given the low metabolisable energy value (4.9 to 6.5 MJ (ME) kg-1 DM) of OPF, supplementation of OPF with an energy-dense feed compound such as fat is of interest. Thus, this approach could also be used in combination with other dietary fat supplementation strategies to further manipulate fatty acid concentration of ruminant tissues and products for human consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to investigate the nutritional compositions and antioxidant activities (AA) of non-polar and polar extracts of germinated brown rice (GBR). Nutritional compositions such as moisture, ash, carbohydrate, fat, protein and fibre were determined. Energy and minerals content were determined by using bomb calorimetry and Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS), respectively. Total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) of the extracts were determined by Folin-Ciocalteu method and aluminium chloride colorimetric method. The AA was determined using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and [2,2'-Azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)] diammonium salt (ABTS) radical scavenging capacity assay, ferric reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP) assay, and (β-carotene bleaching assay. Total energy content of GBR sample was 390.95±11.31 kcal/100g and carbohydrate (54.30±1.04 g/100 g) was the most abundant nutrient. The predominant minerals in the GBR sample were sodium, potassium and magnesium. The polar extract showed significantly higher (p<0.05) level in TPC, TFC and AA than non-polar extract except in (β-carotene bleaching assay. Positive and strong correlations (r>0.90, p<0.001) existed between antioxidants (TPC and TFC) and AA. Therefore, polar extract was better than non-polar extract. The nutritional composition of GBR also provided an update for food composition database. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The meat characteristics of Red jungle fowl (Gallus gallus Spadiceus) and Malaysian Domestic chicken (Gallus gallus Domesticus), which are known as slow growing birds, were studied. Results were compared with those of the commercial broilers (ROSS) which are fast growing birds. The objective of the study is to determine the meat characteristics (pH, muscle fibre diameter and collagen content) of the breeds and the correlation to their meat quality. For this purpose, a total of 90 chickens (30 chickens for each breed) were used in this study. The chickens in each group were sacrificed at 20, 56 and 120 days posthatching. Findings indicated that collagen content, pH, cooking loss and shear force values in Red jungle fowl and Malaysian Domestic chicken were significantly higher (P<0.05) than the commercial broilers. The smaller muscle fibre diameters and lower glycogen reserved contributed to higher pH. Meanwhile, the collagen content showed significantly (P<0.05) positive correlation to shear force and more prominent factors than the size of muscle fibre that determines tenderness of the meat. The commercial broilers' meat is much tender than that of the Malaysia Domestic chicken and Red jungle fowl. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was undertaken with the aim to determine the carcass composition of three breeds of chicken and their correlation with growth performance. For this purpose, fifty Red Jungle Fowl (Gallus gallus Spadiceus), fifty Malaysian indigenous chickens (Gallus gallus Domesticus) and fifty broiler chickens (ROSS) were used in this study. The chickens in each group were sacrificed at 1, 10, 20, 56, and 120 days post-hatching. The results showed that there were significant differences in the parameters measured between the high performance breed (commercial broilers), and the lower performance breeds (Red Jungle Fowl and Malaysian Indigenous chickens), although they were reared under the same environment and received the same feed, management and other facilities. Meanwhile, relative whole carcass weight, bone and fat weights in the commercial broiler were the highest compared to indigenous chickens and red jungle fowl at (p<0.05). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetes mellitus is a degenerative disease affecting about 25% of people over 40 years and is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The oil palm (Elaies guineensis) leaf is a major waste of the palm oil industry, which is among the top vegetable oil industry in the world. This study aims to evaluate the potential anti-diabetic effects of Oil palm leaves (OPL) ethanolic extract on normal and streptozotocin (STZ)-induced hyperglycaemic rats. OPL were administered orally at 50, 100 and 200mg per kg body weight/day) to Sprague Dawley rats and monitored for its glycaemic, lipidemic and antioxidant modulating effects. The Oil palm leaves (OPL) ethanolic extract treatment dose-dependently reduced blood glucose and oxidation in the STZ rats, and restored antioxidants enzymes levels. The optimum dose was 100mg/kg, which effectively reduced liver and kidney damage to the level of normal rats. This is the first study on dietary OPL ethanolic extract ability to modulate physiological responses and show organ protective effects against tissue damage in STZ-induced chronic hyperglycaemic rats. At the doses used OPL showed no adverse or chronic toxicity effects in these rats, indicating its potential use as a new functional food ingredient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]