Buffaloes are raised for meat particularly in countries like Italy, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Russia and Egypt. Meat from buffalo is called by various terminologies in different countries according to the age of slaughter. The term, buffalo meat, is named after species of origin, most appropriate and common terminology used in Indian context. Buffalo beef is a differentiating nomenclature from its close ally, beef. Carabeef (seldom called buffen) is derived from the term caraboa, popular name for swamp buffalo in Thailand, Philippines and some South East Asian countries. Buffalo veal is the meat from male buffalo calves. Buffalo broilers are the buffalo calves reared exclusively on milk for meat purpose or with established norms of slaughter weight against a well-defined tender age (Ross, 1975; Bhat and Lakshmanan, 1998).

Table 1.  Composition of buffalo meat.

Source: international Journal of livestock Production vol.1(1),pp.001-005,August,2009.

Buffaloes have a unique ability to utilize coarse feeds, straws and crop residues converting them into protein rich lean meat. Hence buffaloes fit well in poor countries having poor feed resources (Arganosa, 1973). Buffalo properly managed and fed as a meat producing animal and slaughtered at 16 to 20 months of age yields a highly satisfactory top quality meat at a much lower cost than the cattle (Ranjan and Pathak, 1979). Since buffaloes have been used as draught animals for centuries, they have evolved with exceptional muscular development. Until recently, little thought was given to use them exclusively for meat production.

Buffaloes are lean animals. The sub-cutaneous fat layer of the carcass is usually thinner than that on comparably fed cattle. Fat is low even under feed lot conditions (Desmond, 1990). More lean and less fat compared to cattle, has created a demand for it among health conscious consumers (Kondaiah, 2002). Buffaloes have higher degree of resistance and tolerance than cattle against many diseases (Ross, 1975). They are reasonably productive up to 15 years of age. At 18 years and even more may produce calves (Banerjee, 1998). Buffaloes have excellent body weight gain compared to other species. The nutrient requirements of buffalo steer include 0.24 Kg DCP, 1.8 Kg TDN, 6.6 MCal ME, 14 g Ca, and 11 g P. On adlibitum and high concentrate (75:25) based rations the growth rate is 610 g/day with feed efficiency of 7:1. On all roughage rations (Green berseem/ berseem hay) the growth rate is 370 g/day with feed efficiency of 10:1 (Ranjan and Pathak, 1979).

Source: international Journal of livestock Production vol.1(1),pp.001-005,August,2009.

Young male buffaloes are usually slaughtered at 12-24 months when they weigh 250-300 kg (Baruah et al., 1990). The dressing percentage varies with age and type of animal slaughtered. Mediterranean-type (Brazil) of buffalo yields a dressing percentage of 55.51. Swamp buffalo (Australia) yields 53.0%. Old and unproductive buffaloes yield 43-57%. Average dressing percentage on moderate diet is about 55.4-59.0. Buffalo veal yields about 61-64% (Ross, 1975; Bhat and Lakshmanan, 1998). The carcass composition varies with dressing percentage of buffalo carcasses. A buffalo having dressing percentage of 43-44 is composed of 65-70% meat, 5- 10% fat and 20-24% bone. A buffalo broiler having a dressing percentage of 51.4 constitutes 66.8% meat, 9.7% fat and 23.5% bone (Joksimovic and Oqnjanovic, 1977; Bhat and Lakshmanan, 1998; Sharma, 1999). Thus, buffalo carcass has rounder ribs, a higher proportion of muscle and a lower proportion of bone and fat than beef.

Physicochemical attributes of buffalo meat

Buffalo meat is dark red in colour, firm in consistency with white fat colour (Joksimovic and Oqnjanovic, 1977). More pigmentation or less intra muscular fat (1-2% marbling compared with 3-4% in beef) content causes darker appearance of buffalo meat. The dark meat possesses good binding properties and is preferred in product manufacture (Kondaiah, 2002). -carotene in the fat gives yellow colouration and is totally absent in buffalo fat (Joksimovic and Oqnjanovic,  977). As evident from Table 1, Buffalo meat constitutes higher protein, low fat and cholesterol (Arganosa, 1973; Ross, 1975; Joksimovic and Oqnjanovic, 1977; Anjaneyulu et al., 1994; Kandeepan and Biswas, 2007).

Source: international Journal of livestock Production vol.1(1),pp.001-005,August,2009.

Buffalo meat and beef are basically similar.

• The muscle pH- (5.4)
• Shrinkage on chilling-2%
• Moisture-76.6%
• Protein-19%
• Ash (1%)

All above is same in buffalo meat and beef. Buffalo fat, however is always white and buffalo meat is darker in color than beef because of more pigmentation or less intramuscular fat (2-3% “marbling” compared with the 3-4% in beef).

Eating Quality

Taste panel tests and tenderness measurements, conducted by research teams in a number of countries have shown that the meat of the water buffalo is as acceptable as that of cattle. Buffalo steaks have been rated higher than beef steaks in some taste tests in Australia, Malaysia, Venezuela and Trinidad. In taste panel studies in Trinidad, cooked joints from 3 carcasses … a Trinidad buffalo, a crossbred steer (Jamaica-Red/Sahiwal), and an imported carcass of a top grade European beef steer ….were served. The 28 diners had experience in beef production, butchery, or catering and were not told the source of the various joints. All carcasses were held in cold storage for 1 week before cooking.

The buffalo meat was rated highest by 14 judges; 7 chose the European beef; 5 thought that crossbred beef is the best; and 2 said that the buffalo and crossbred were equal to or better than the European beef. The buffalo meat received the most points for color (both meat and fat); taste, and general acceptability. There was little difference noted in texture. Buffalo veal is considered a delicacy. Calves are usually slaughtered for veal between 3 and 4 weeks of age; dressed weight is 59-66% of live weight.

There is some evidence that buffaloes may retain meat tenderness at more advanced age than cattle because the connective tissue hardens at a later age or because the diameter of muscle fibers in the buffalo increases more slowly than in cattle. In one test the tenderness (measured by shearing force) of muscle fibers from carcasses of buffalo & steers of 16-30 months old was the same as that from feedlot Angus, Hereford, and Friesian steers 12-18 months old. This gives the farmer more flexibility in meeting fluctuating markets price.

Most of the buffaloes are slaughtered at end of their productive or working life and therefore, the meat is dark, coarse and tough. Now-a-days, consumers are demanding quality meat with more emphasis on tenderness which is often not obtained from the aged and spent animals. As a consequence, majority of the meat is losing its popularity and demand. Some quantity of meat produced is used for development of various comminuted meat products. Practical methods for improving tenderness of such meat to an acceptable level would definitely increase retail value and marketing opportunities.

Freezing of adult male buffalo meat improved texture, tenderness and juiciness scores during prolonged storage (Kandeepan and Biswas, 2007). Electrical stimulation of buffalo carcasses significantly improved sensory tenderness scores. The tenderness improvement of more than 32% was observed in electrically stimulated carcasses (Biswas et al., 2007). High voltage electrical stimulation (700 V, 1400 V peak, pulses 1 s on/1 s off, 60 Hz, 2 A) on buffalo carcasses resulted in a significantly higher tenderness scores and myofibril fragmentation compared to non-stimulated controls, irrespective of the cooling process adopted (Soares and Arêas, 1995).

Ground buffalo meat from spent females treated with 500 ppm sodium ascorbate significantly increased the pH, colour, odour and chroma but decreased cooking loss, metmyoglobin and TBARS number (Sahoo and Anjaneyulu, 1997a). Use of 10 ppm tocopherol acetate for preblending extended the shelf life of ground buffalo meat from 6 to 8 days under refrigerated storage (Sahoo and Anjaneyulu, 1997b). Use of 1.0% carnosine for preblending extended the shelf life of ground buffalo meat up to 8 days under refrigerated storage (Das et al., 2006). Meat chunks from spent buffaloes marinated with 2% (w/w) powdered cucumis extract and 5% (w/v) ginger extract for 48 h at 4°C significantly (P<0.01) improved the flavor, juiciness, tenderness and overall acceptability scores (Naveena et al., 2004).

  Source: international Journal of livestock Production vol.1(1),pp.001-005,August,2009.

Meat export is desired to effectively utilize the available livestock resources and improve returns to the farmers by004 Int. J. Livest. Prod. popularizing buffalo meat. Buffalo meat is the major item of Indian animal product export comprising 48.76% of the total animal products exported. The major destinations of buffalo meat include Malaysia, USA, Jordan, Oman and UAE. Buffalo meat is exported to the tune of 306970.81 MT amounting 1615.59 crores which is the highest among all animal products that are exported form India (APEDA, 2008).

The share of Indian meat exports in the world market is less than 2%. Adequate meat production potential exists in the country to meet the domestic demand and to substantially increase the export. A significant price differential between domestic and export market exists for buffalo meat and it has better prospects for the meat traders. For an instance, In Bareilly district, Uttar Pradesh, India the buffalo meat is sold by the retailer at the rate of Rs.40/kg. Whereas, the same meat used for export purpose fetches Rs.60/kg at the municipal slaughter house.

Source: international Journal of livestock Production vol.1(1),pp.001-005,August,2009.

Survey projects on production and marketing may be deployed as base material for projection at national and international levels, for the prediction of future trends and for the formulation of meat industry developmental programmes.

Meat scientists and animal geneticists should collaborate their research aiming at developing a potential cross bred buffalo for meat purpose. Research projects on buffalo meat technology should focus on working slaughter grades of buffaloes as in USDA for beef. Buffalo meat affords an easy means of preparing low priced fast meat foods by restricting the cost of raw material. So, the focus area of research should be low cost ready to eat buffalo meat products. The other area is to design appropriate technologies to improve the quality of meat from spent animals. Research should focus on extension of self-life of traditional buffalo meat products available in our country and making necessary efforts for patenting them.

The Government should encourage and give subsidies/incentives to start meat and by-products processing industries. Increasing the production of superior calves through embryo transfer technology, better disease control, adequate nutrition and improved levels of hygiene at meat handling will enable India a quantum jump in meat production by utilizing the surplus male calves. Financial institutions should come forward to finance activities related to buffalo meat trade.

Appropriate consumer education programmes on popularization of quality and health benefits of buffalo meat and products will provide a cheap source of animal protein to the masses. The demand for buffalo meat products will serve as a catalyst for all developmental programmes on buffalo meat production. A very strong rapport must be built between liaison offices, meat industries, meat corporations, research workers and nodal bodies like APEDA (Agricultural and Processed food products Export Development Authority) and Directorate of Marketing and Inspection (DMI) for exchange of information and overall improvement of meat industry and national economy.

Government should make efforts to upgrade municipal slaughter houses to semi modern abattoirs with all basic requirements and minimum hygienic standards. In the present context of WTO agreement on sanitary and phyto-sanitary (SPS) measures, the hygienic standards of existing meat plants should be improved and made at par with the best in the world. The control measures for FMD should be strengthened and adequately controlled areas should be declared as disease free zones to stabilize export market by producing meat for export from such areas. The Government should encourage setting up cold storages, supply/value chain and 100% export oriented buffalo slaughter houses in major buffalo belts of the country.

Source: international Journal of livestock Production vol.1(1),pp.001-005,August,2009.