Sensory Evaluation of Liver/Meat Pâté Made from Fresh or Frozen Eland Meat and Beef

Abstract Small animal producers in Europe can financially benefit if they sell not only carcasses or dissected cuts, but also processed meat and edible offal in value added products such as traditional and popular pâté. In particular, when introducing a new exotic species like eland (Taurotragus oryx) to the market, the sale of low valued cuts with higher collagen content is problematic. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the sensory traits of several pâtés made from liver and less valuable fresh or frozen meat cuts (neck, brisket and plate) of eland and cattle. Four batches of pâté made from fresh and frozen material (45 and 90 days) were tested by 35 panellists using sensory profiling method with 14 descriptors. Two pâté batches consisted of chicken liver and beef or eland meat. Another two were made from eland or beef liver together with eland meat. Pâté made from fresh material, including chicken or eland or beef liver, together with eland meat or beef showed the main differences in textural characteristics such as friability, overall texture being better scored for pâté which includes chicken liver. Chicken liver also resulted in a higher intensity of colour. Freezing of material (meat and liver) before processing into pâté resulted in worse scoring of the final product. Chicken liver batches scored better in sensory traits of overall appearance, pleasantness of taste, colour and intensity of colour, colour hue and textural friability, overall texture and of pleasantness of consistency. Pâté made from chicken liver from frozen material also had lower off-flavour. This pilot study showed that pâté from fresh eland meat and chicken liver scored the best in most of the sensory traits. Freezing and storing meat and liver before processing resulted in worse scores, especially in olfactory, visual and textural traits. The use of chicken liver instead of eland or beef liver to process pâté improves sensory traits.