Effects of the hunting method on meat quality from fallow deer and wild boar and preliminary studies for predicting lipid oxidation using visible reflectance spectra.

This study examines the influence of hunting methods on the colour and lipid oxidation state of meat from wild boar ( Sus scrofa) and fallow deer ( Dama dama). In addition, the feasibility of using visible reflectance spectra (360 to 740 nm) to predict the lipid oxidation of meat was evaluated. A total of 25 wild boars and 14 fallow deer were hunted with two different methods, dog-driven hunting (DH) and harvest culling (HC), that imply different animal stresses before shooting. Lipid oxidation increased in the meat from both species, which had been frozen for 3 months. The increase was higher in the DH group than the HC group ( P < 0.05). Our results confirm the importance of hunting stress on meat quality and lipid stability. The multivariate regression analysis showed a high correlation ( R = 0.968) between the predicted and measured thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) values, suggesting that visible spectroscopy should prove useful for predicting meat oxidation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]