Abstract
THE WEST African Dwarf sheep meat is a common source of protein among rural dwellers in southwest Nigerian and is processed under different methods. These methods could affect the nutrient composition of meat and carcasses. To validate this hypothesis, a total of twenty-four traditionally managed West African Dwarf rams with average age of 18 months, weighing averagely between 15-19kg were used to evaluate the effect of scalding, skinning and singeing on carcass characteristics and proximate composition of meat from sheep. The animals were slaughtered after fasted for 16 hours but with access to clean-cool water by severing both the carotid artery and jugular veins. The empty body weight (EBW), hot carcass weight (HCW), dressing percentage (DP) and retail cuts were determined and meat samples from the flank were used for proximate analysis. The result showed that dressing percentage was higher (p<0.05) in scalded (51.84%) and singed (51.29%) carcasses. The weights of retail cuts differed (p<0.05) with dressing methods, scalding having the highest values. The dry matter (DM), fat and ash contents of meat were not affected by the dressing methods while crude protein differed (p<0.05). Color, juiciness and overall acceptability values for scalded carcass have higher (p<0.05) values whereas singed carcasses is superior (p<0.05) in terms of flavor compared to the other dressing methods. Cooking loss was greatest (p<0.05) for singed carcasses and considerably low (p<0.05) in scalded carcasses. These processing methods have significant effects on the overall acceptability to both the consumer and the butcher, while consumers reckon with the nutritive characteristics as well as color, tenderness and juiciness, the butcher will be more concerned with the dressing percentage of the carcasses.