Kwan-Woo Kim¹, Hye-Jin Kim², Hee-Jin Kim², Sung-Soo Lee¹, Eun-Do Lee¹, Dong-Kyo Kim¹, Sang-Hoon Lee¹, Aera Jang^2,, Jinwook Lee^1,

The study aimed to investigate the effects of feeding regimes on chemical composition, meat quality, and fatty acid composition of elk deer loin (EDL) while aging at 4°C. Sixteen 3-year-old elk hinds were randomly assigned to one of two dietary treatments: pasture grazing (PG) and barn feeding (BF). While eight elks grazed on pastures with supplementary feed of 1.0% of body weight (PG), the remaining eight elks were fed 1.0% of concentrate with hay ad libitum for 5 months in a barn (BF). After slaughtering, EDL was dissected and aged for 56 days at 4°C under vacuum packaging. Proximate composition, physicochemical characteristics, and fatty acid composition of EDL were determined thereafter. Proximate composition of EDL showed no significant difference between feeding regimes and across aging period. The pH values of EDL increased with increase of storage days. Drip loss increased by day 14, compared to that on the first day, and shear force decreased during aging. Water holding capacity and cooking loss were not significantly affected by feeding regime or aging period. Lightness (L*) and redness (a*) were decreased on day 56 compared to the initial day. Yellowness (b*) of EDL decreased with increase of aging time. The α-linolenic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid, and docosahexaenoic acid content was higher in PG treatment and increased with aging duration. Both feeding regimes and aging were found to affect meat quality and fatty acid profiles.

elk deer meat, feeding regime, aging, meat quality