Effects of dietary fats on meat quality and sensory characteristics of heavy pig loins

This study examined the influence of dietary fat supplementation to heavy pigs on the meat quality and sensory characteristics of loins. The animals were fed diets containing tallow (TA), corn oil (CO) or rapeseed oil (RO) from 25 kg up to 160 kg live weight (LW). The fats were added at 3% as fed from 25 to 110 kg LW, and at 2.5% from 110 kg LW to slaughtering. Diets were fed at 9% BW 0.75. We found no differences between dietary treatments for loin weight, pH, or color of longissimus lumborum (LL) muscle at 45 min and 24 h after slaughtering. No significant differences in moisture, total protein or total lipid content of LL muscle were found. The linolenic acid content of the total lipid of LL muscle was higher in pigs fed RO than those fed TA and CO. The oxidative stability of LL, as determined by induced TBARS, was lower in pigs fed CO - after 60 min of forced oxidation - and in animals fed CO and RO after 300 min, compared to those fed TA. No significant differences in the sensory characteristics of loin were discerned by a panel of trained tasters. These results indicate that long-term nutrition with added fat at the levels we used has little or no effect on the meat quality or sensory characteristics of heavy pig loin.