Chemical Composition, Deterioration Criteria and Microbiological Quality of Edible Ostrich Giblets

Giblets of ostriches which comprise 4.2–5.8% of their live weights, can be either consumed directly after cooking or processed to make meat products. Large amounts of these giblets are wasted due to a lack of sufficient studies about their chemical composition, deterioration criteria, and microbiological quality. Consequently, fifty samples of each chilled edible ostrich giblets (liver, stomach, and heart) were obtained from local markets and examined directly to evaluate their chemical analysis, deterioration criteria, and microbiological quality. Chemical analysis showed that heart tissues contain the highest moisture content (82.29 g/100 g). While, stomach and heart tissues contain the highest protein contents (18.39 and 18.00 g/100 g, respectively). Liver samples have the highest fat and ash content, reaching 7.41 and 1.32 g/100 g, respectively. On the other hand, liver samples showed the highest values of pH (6.81), total volatile basic nitrogen (4.90 mg/100 g), and thiobarbituric acid values (0.66 mg malonaldehyde/kg). Furthermore, microbiological examination showed that stomach tissues exhibited the highest aerobic plate count, Enterobacteriaceae, coliform, and fecal coliform counts (5.94, 3.37, 64.67, and 22.33 log10 CFU/g, respectively). Moreover, the highest staphylococci counts were detected in both stomach and liver tissues (4.57 and 5.44 log10 CFU/g, respectively). There were, however, no significant differences in the counts of psychrotrophic bacteria (3.33, 3.42, and 2.95 log10 CFU/g, respectively), yeasts (3.59, 3.23, and 2.93.36 log10 CFU/g, respectively), and molds (2.66, 2.86, and 2.96 log10 CFU/g, respectively) in ostrich livers, stomachs, and hearts. But salmonella could not be detected in all giblets. According to these findings, consumers and processors of ostrich giblets should maximize their benefits as an alternative protein source to produce a highly nutritive diet. As well, they can be used to reduce meat prices and produce different meat products.