Resumen de Quality characteristics of fresh meat from pigs of the Gascon breed
Sonia Ventanas Canillas, J. Ruiz, P. Sans, M.J. Andrade
Chemical parameters involved in technological meat quality for dry cured processing of Gascon pigs were studied in longissimus dorsi (LD) and biceps femoris (BF) muscles. Muscles from Gascon pigs showed 2.60 and 2.84% of intramuscular fat content, 23.64 and 22.14% protein content and 1.34 and 4.63mg of myoglobin per gram of muscle (respectively LD and BF). Intramuscular fat (IMF) and myoglobin levels were higher than those reported for commercial pigs, but lower than those previously found in Iberian pigs. A similar situation was detected in the fatty acid composition of neutral and polar lipids of both muscles. Thus, monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) in neutral lipids of Gascon pig muscles (LD and BF respectively) were 58.27 and 51.98%, while polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) levels were 5.61 and 14.13% respectively; values similar to those found in Iberian pigs and quite different to usual values in commercial pig breeds. The same trend was found in polar lipids. Both muscles showed a low susceptibility to induced lipid oxidation, in agreement with their fatty acid composition. These results pointed out that meat from pigs of the Gascon breed showed optimal characteristics for dry cured processing.(A)
