Consumer acceptance, Carcass and sensory characteristics of meats of farmed and wild cane rats (Thryonomys swinderianus)

Abstract

The cane rat, popularly called grasscutter in Ghana, is noted for the supply of a significant proportion of game meat consumed in Ghana. Its hunting from the wild is however, associated with several environmental hazards as well as a threat to their survival as species. Grasscutters are presently being farmed to minimize some of the harmful effects associated with harvesting from the wild. Some local consumers have however, expressed reservations that the meat of wild cane rat is more tender and leaner than meat of farmed ones. This study therefore sought to compare the consumer acceptance of meats from farmed and wild cane rats amongst consumers in Mankessim, in the Mfantsiman Municipality of the Central Region of Ghana, as well as determine some carcass and sensory characteristics of the meats by trained panellists. The study was performed with 250 consumers of cane rat meat, whilst sensory and proximate characteristics were determined by a 25-member trained sensory panel. From the results, 78% of the respondents preferred meat from wild to farmed grasscutters, due to perceived better flavour, tenderness and lower fat content. Sensory panellists indicated that meat of the wild grasscutter was darker, more tender, had higher flavour intensity and higher acceptability than that of the farmed grasscutter. The meat of the wild grasscutter also had higher crude protein (25.72%) than the farmed (24.61%). In addition, meat of the wild grasscutters had lower fat (5.74%) contents than the farmed (9.49%). Aerobic plate counts of the wild cane rat meat was 2.48log10CFU/g, whilst that of the farmed was 1.87 log10CFU/g after 21 days of storage. It is recommended that meat from the wild cane rats harvested in Ghana, should be cooked to a minimum core temperature of 72ᵒC, to minimize possible incidence of food-borne infections amongst consumers