Nutritional and organoleptic quality of Beni-Guil lamb meat breeding in eastern Morocco

Nowadays in Morocco, 98% of red meat production is ensured by cattles, sheeps and goast. The eastern Morocco represents one of the main sheep farming areas, characterized by the specificity of its production systems. So it is well known by the quality of the sheep meat produced. The Beni-Guil breed is a dominate breed in this breeding area, labeled Protected Geographical Indication (PIG). Thus, it’s an important protein source for the population in this geographical site and highly appreciated by consumers. This reputation is limited to the hedonic quality, and there is currently no scientific data available on the organoleptic and nutritional quality of Beni-Guil meat. The objective of this research is to give a scientific point on the nutritional and organoleptic quality of this meat by biochemical analyzes of the major and minor composition of the Longissimus dorsi muscle (LDM).
The results of the organoleptic quality analysis show that the meat of Beni-Guil breed has a bright red color, with a chromaticity of 23.97, an a/b ratio of 0.96 and a hue angle of 46.47, Significant juiciness with a water retention capacity and cooking loss of 22.73 and 32.87% respectively, and a marked tenderness with a collagen content of 0.1%. Thus the analysis of nutritional quality showed that LDM of the Beni-Guil has a high nutritional and dietary value, rich in polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) and essential amino acid, with an PUFA/SFA ratio of 0.25, a ratio PUFA n-6/PUFA n-3 of 3.78, and a Protein Digestibility-Corrected Amino Acid score (PDCAAS) of 127.