Food Science and Quality Management www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-6088 (Paper) ISSN 2225-0557 (Online) Vol.46, 2015 3 A Review on Compositional Constituents, Quality Characteristics and Trace Elements in Beef, Sheep and Goat Meat in Ethiopia Tekalign Kasa, Seid Guyo Mada Walabu University, school of natural and computational science, department of chemistry Mada Walabu University, school of agriculture, department of animal and range science, Bale- Robe, Ethiopia P.box: 247 Abstract The Consumption of meat and meat product is increased in the world from time to time, even if its increment in the developing country is not as such as that of developed country. In Ethiopia the sailor and the consumers have no awareness about the composition, quality characteristic and content of trace elements found in beef, sheep and goat meat, but they fill to eat the best one. So, the aim of this review is to create awareness among our community about composition constituents, quality characteristics and content of trace elements found in beef, sheep and goat meat of Ethiopia. Therefore a review paper motivates our community to choose meat which is appropriate for their health. Keywords: Composition, Element, Meat, physico-chemical, Quality, Trace INTRODUCTION Ethiopia has huge livestock population standing 1 st in Africa and 10 th in the world, indicating that the country has great potential for meat and meat by-products. But, practically the sector is under exploited/ utilized for three basic reasons such as: animal health problems, improper feeding practices and low genetic potential of the livestock kept. In addition, the livestock are not raised for specific production purpose. That is, the meat industry is not well organized (back yard dominated type) and the personnel are not well educated. Meat consumption in developing countries has been continuously increasing from a modest average annual per capita consumption of 10 kg in the 1960s to 26 kg in 2000 and will reach 37 kg around the year 2030 according to FAO projections. This forecast suggests that in a few decades, developing countries’ consumption of meat will move towards that of developed countries where meat consumption remains stagnant at a high level (FAO 2007). In Ethiopia in 1991/93 and 1994, 595 million and 577 million tones of meat, respectively, have been produced. In addition to this, due to the export of the 3,790 bovine live cattle in three years (1990-1992) a total value of 1,493 million US $ foreign currency has been gained (ILRI, 2000).The value of output from livestock in Ethiopia was estimated at around birr 12 billion in 2000 and accounted for about 45% of the value of all agricultural output excluding the contribution of animal draft power (FAO, 2003). In many developing countries, especially in Ethiopia meat is widely consumed as a source of protein; it is eaten as raw or/ either cooked or processed into other forms to avoid associated spoilage (Olaoye et al., 2010; Olaoye and Onilude, 2010). Meat is defined as ‘the edible part of the skeletal muscle of an animal that was healthy at the time of slaughter (CFDAR, 1990). Chemically meat is composed of four major components including water, protein, lipid, carbohydrate and many other minor components such as vitamins, enzymes, pigments and flavour compounds (Lamber et al., 1991). The relative proportions of all these constituents give meat its particular structure, texture, flavour, colour and nutritive value. However, because of its unique biological and chemical nature, meat undergoes progressive deterioration from the time of slaughter until consumption (Lamber et al., 1991). Meat is a nutritious, protein-rich food which is highly perishable and has a short shelf-life unless preservation methods are used. Shelf life and maintenance of the meat quality are influenced by a number of interrelated factors including holding temperature, which can result in detrimental changes in the quality attributes of meat (Olaoye and Onilude, 2010). There are several groups of people that could be at risk of deficiencies of one or more micronutrients: elderly people for vitamins A, D, E, folate, iron and calcium, mostly because of diseases and an age-adapted lifestyle, less because of physiological problems (with the exception of iron and vitamin B12 uptake due to gastric mucosal atrophy) (Biesalski and Nohr, 2007). In pregnant women, risk of deficiency of vitamin D, folic acid, zinc and iron is due to enhanced demands, especially when meat is avoided in the diet (Saletti et al., 2000). Supplementation is recommended, especially for folic acid, in order to avoid serious birth defects. Vitamin A deficiency also seems to be a risk, as shown by (Schulz et al. 2007) for women with twins or births at short intervals. Developed countries consumed a consistent level of 77 kg of meat per capita annually, while developing countries struggled to maintain a diet with only 25 kg of meat per capita annually. Ethiopians remained slightly below the meat intake of all low-income countries and consuming 9 kg per capita annually (Abbey, 2004). Currently, little attention has been given to the awareness of meat and its consumption among many consumers of the product in many developing countries, such as Ethiopia. Broadly, the composition of