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Goat farming is an important activity in northern Mexico. In this sense, “cabrito” or kid goat is a typical regional dish with high economic and cultural value. However, information on the morphostructural composition and meat quality of these local specimens is scarce. Given this, the objective was to evaluate morphostructural characteristics, carcass and meat quality in local kids according to sex in the northeastern region of Mexico. For this purpose, 14 kids (7 males and 7 females) 57 days old were slaughtered. Morphostructural composition was evaluated with 22 zoomometric and phenotypic variables. Carcass characteristics were evaluated by considering different body structures, carcass yield and degree of fatness. Meat quality was determined by physicochemical characteristics, nutritional value and fatty acid profile. The sex effect was evaluated by t-test of independent means and Chi-square. Meat physicochemical characteristics, nutritional value and morphostructure of local kids were heterogeneous and showed no differences (P≥0.05) concerning sex. Carcass, kidneys, head, neck, rib and loin weights were higher in males than in females (P≤0.05). Fatty acids (FA) found in greater proportion were palmitic (C16:0), oleic (C18:1, n-9), stearic (C18:0), and myristic (C14:0). These FA comprised 80.85 % of the lipid profile of male meat and 76.83% of females. These results are the basis for future programs aimed to improve production systems. Differences found could shed light on future efforts on how to differentiate goat meat from this region of Mexico and enter new markets directly benefiting small producers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Current diets of broiler chickens tend to increase protein levels to obtain high productive variables that are achieved in combination with genetic, management, and sanitary improvements, among others. An increase in dietary crude protein levels does not always accompany an increase in broiler productive efficiency due to multiple factors involved in the production system. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of increasing levels of dietary crude protein (CP) on productive performance, carcass characteristics, and chemical composition of breast and thigh meat in broiler chickens raised in the dry subtropics of northeastern Mexico. Method: The study used 200, 1-day-old male Ross broiler chicks. In a completely randomized design, birds were allocated to the four treatments with five replicates (floor pens) of ten birds each. The trial was divided in two phases (starter and finisher) of 21 days each (42 days total). Treatment diets (T) for starter and finisher phases had crude protein concentrations (CP; %) of 21 and 18.1 (T1), 21.4 and 18.5 (T2), 21.8 and 18.9 (T3), and 22.2 and 19.3 (T4), respectively. Within each feeding phase, the four treatment diets were formulated to similar levels of apparent metabolizable energy. Results: Protein concentrations had no effect (P > 0.05) on weight gain, while feed intake was greater in T1 (P < 0.05) than in T2 and T3. Feed conversion was better in T2 and T4 (P < 0.05) than in T1. There was no influence of treatment on carcass weight or carcass cuts (P > 0.05). Carcass yield was greater in T1 than in T3 (P < 0.05). Breast and thigh dry matter and ether extracts were similar (P > 0.05) between treatments. Breast crude protein was greater (P < 0.05) in T2 than in T3. The lowest (P < 0.05) CP concentration in thigh meat was in T3. Discussion or Conclusion: These results indicated that in the dry subtropics area of northeastern Mexico increases in CP above the level of T2 (21.4% and 18.5% CP in starter and finisher diets, respectively) did not improve broiler chicken productive performance, carcass characteristics or meat chemical composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cavia porcellus is used as a kind of meat supply, it is part of the diet and source of sustenance in some regions of the world. In Mexico guinea pig production systems represent an opportunity to produce meat for self-consumption and even for local sale. The objective of this study was to evaluate sensorially the gastronomic proposal based on C. porcellus meat; which consisted of four stews (in mushroom cream, roasted, sweet and sour marinade and in yellow mole) and were tasted by 40 judges not trained by an acceptability test with a structured scale of hedonic satisfaction, the attributes considered were the appearance, smell, taste, tenderness and juiciness. Data were analysed using an Ascendant Hierarchical Classification and Principal Component Analysis to construct the quadratic mapping model of external preferences. The results indicated that for type 2 consumers there is a significant effect (R2=0.976, p<0.05), determining their general acceptance in common by guinea pig cream mushrooms. It was concluded that the gastronomic proposal of the four guinea pig stews was accepted, but the most widely accepted was the cuy in cream of mushroom soup. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study identified the distribution of 22,850 beef carcasses belonging to three genotypes according to a visual judgment of the height of the hump (large, indicative of Bos indicus; medium, Crosses between B. indicus and Bos taurus, and small, B. taurus) among the classification grades obtained under the Mexican norm NMX-FF-078-SCFI-2002, at the No 51 Federal Inspected Type abattoir, Tabasco State, southeastern Mexico. Chi-square analysis was used to determine the association and the proportion of hump classification with carcass grading criteria. Fifty four percent of the carcasses classified as large hump (B. indicus breeding), 35% as small hump (B. taurus breeding), and 10.70% as medium hump (Crossbred). B. taurus and Crossbred genotypes had greater (P < 0.0001) percentage of Select carcasses (17.90 and 18.50%, respectively) and Standard grades (55.20 and 60.10%, respectively) than B. indicus genotype (10.10% for Select and 39.30% for Standard). B. indicus genotype had greater (P < 0.0001) percentage of Commercial carcasses (36.20%) and Out of Grade (14.40%) grades. The three genotypes representing the overall beef herd for the Mexican tropics, B. taurus, B. indicus, and Crossbred were present at the Select beef carcass classification grade suggesting that genotype is not a factor introducing bias in the Mexican carcass classification norm NMX-FF-078-SCFI-2002. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The beef industry in Jalisco State, Mexico lacks a local system to estimate yield of retail cuts from carcasses. The applicability of previously published equations to predict retail yield in thirty carcasses fabricated under a local Spanish-Jalisco style by a commercial butcher shop at the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, Jalisco (Mexico), was investigated. Carcass weight, Longissimus muscle area, rib fat thickness and kidney and pelvic fat were measured. All retail cut and trimmings were weighed and expressed either as total weight (TRC) or as percentage of carcass weight (TRYD). Published equations to predict TRYD had an adjusted R² of 0.279 to 0.355. Three out of seven equations evaluated gave an intercept and slope coefficient similar to zero and one, respectively. Using TRC had an adjusted R² of 0.929 to 0.969. The same three equations showing an intercept and slope coefficients similar to zero and one, respectively. Regression analysis revealed that the best model to predict TRYD included all variables except carcass weight, explaining 44.50% of the variation. In contrast, the prediction of TRC indicated that carcass weight explained 95.60% of the variation. Inclusion of Longissimus muscle area and rib fat thickness only improved the adjusted R² from 0.955 to 0.967. In conclusion, some published equations could be used to predict TRC but as ribbing of the carcass previous its evaluation is not a standard practice at Jalisco nor other regions in Mexico, their applicability would be limited. Further research is warranted to develop a model exempt from ribbing the carcasses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To a great extent, the knowledgment of consumer's behavior contributes to the understanding the development of a certain product in the market. A data clustering algorithm is utilized, in the context of pattern recognition, to identify types of meet consumer in Northwestern Mexico, in order to know consumer preferences and thereby guide market decisions of producers as well as decision of those responsible of promoting government support to involved sectors. The data analysis allowed to find three types of meat consumers: 1) Those with high preference for the consumption of meat and white meat like chicken and fish, 2) Those who show high preference for beef, followed by meat chicken and pork, and 3) Those who prefer white meats like chicken and fish and have low preference for the consumption of beef. Based on these consumers groups, some characteristics of meet market for the study region are described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the political practices exercised by local government officials in Mexico City in the early eighteenth century, around the meat supply. The idea is to observe the common good, but settled not only in humanism doctrine, but also within a mercantilist policy, in which the economic interests of the Crown intended to come together as one body with those of his subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates, in an exploratory manner, the level of approximation of traditional agrosilvopastoral systems with cattle (AS) in three micro-regions of the Biological Corridor in Chiapas, Mexico to the organic production model. Through interviews with experts, and based on organic norms, we designed an evaluation proposal with 35 variables to integrate 10 indicators. These indicators, in turn, constituted an organic conversion index (OCI) of the AS, obtained by adding the considered values of each indicator. Information was obtained through direct observation as well as interviews with 65 farmers from the "El Tabón" river basin (TRB), 36 from Marqués de Comillas (MAC), and 34 from Tecpatán (TEC). Cattle farms in the three micro-regions showed different levels of compliance (0 to 100%) with the ten organic cattle raising indicators. The greatest ICO value of the AS evaluated was TEC (61.3%), followed by TRB (55.0%), and MAC (53.3%). This indicates that farmers must be trained in various organic cattle raising techniques in order to achieve 100% compliance with the stipulated norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work aimed to investigate the prevalence of Trichinella infection in horses (Equus ferus caballus) handled by rural slaughterhouses across five distinctive socioeconomic regions in Mexico. Serum samples were obtained by non-probabilistic convenience sampling in the Eastern, Southern Central and Western regions (100 samples of each). Additionally, muscle tissue samples were collected from the East (n=45), Southeastern (n=88), Southern Central (n=39) and Southwestern (n=11) regions. Antibodies were determined by Western blot and the muscle tissue was examined by artificial digestion. A global antibody prevalence of 2% was obtained. Regionally, a prevalence of 5% was observed in the East and 1% in the Southern Central region. No antibodies were detected in the West region and no larvae were found in the muscle tissue samples. These findings support the low presence of Trichinella in Mexican horses, which can positively impact the Mexican horse meat trade., (Copyright © 2020 Asociación Argentina de Microbiología. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)