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Physicochemical properties of meat of Italian Heavy Draft horses slaughtered at the age of eleven months¹

Department of Public Health and Animal Production, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine S.P. per Casamassima, km 3. 70010, Valenzano (BA), Italy

	Abstract

Top Abstract INTRODUCTION MATERIALS AND METHODS RESULTS AND DISCUSSION LITERATURE CITED

 
To investigate rheological and chemical characteristics of the meat from Italian Heavy Draft horse, 24 foals (12 males and 12 females) were weaned at 6 mo, reared and fed in the same way, and slaughtered at 11 mo of age. The results obtained showed that there were no significant differences between the sexes but that the muscle type is a significant variation source. The rectus femoris muscle was lighter, and the biceps femoris had a lower a* index than longissimus dorsii, rectus femoris, and semimembranosus muscle. The most tender muscle was the semitendinosus, and the toughest even after cooking was the biceps femoris. The male animals had a greater protein and lipid percentage. The acidic composition of the intramuscular fat showed a greater presence of MUFA (P < 0.05) in the females and of PUFA (P < 0.01) in the males. Colorimetry analysis of the subcutaneous and perirenal fat from these animals indicated the unfavorable yellow color seen in adult animals had not yet been acquired. The meat produced had low redness due to the low myoglobin content and high lightness. Besides, the low collagen content and its high solubility indicates an appreciable tenderness. The high level of unsaturation of the intramuscular fat resulted in a high ratio of unsaturated to saturated fat, making horse meat favorable from a health point of view.

Key Words: foal meat • pH • color • tenderness • water-holding capacity • fatty acid

	INTRODUCTION

Top Abstract INTRODUCTION MATERIALS AND METHODS RESULTS AND DISCUSSION LITERATURE CITED

 
Meat obtained from horses has been historically obtained from horses that were slaughtered at the end of their working life. The meat had no appreciable organoleptic and nutritional characteristics revealed by a very dark red color, fat possessing a yellow color, was devoid or poorly marbled, and was tough due to maturation of connective tissue (Badiani and Manfredini, 1994; Stanislawczyk and Znamirowska, 2005). Modern horse meat utilizes young animals specifically raised for human consumption. In some cultures, horse meat is consistently consumed (Sarries et al., 2006a), which has led to development in recent years of large-scale organized distribution (Ribezzo et al., 2002). In the 2001, the worldwide horse meat production amounted to almost 700 thousand metric tons, of which 114 thousand metric tons is not of identified origin. The major production region is Asia, with 40% of world production with known origin, followed by South America (14%), Central America (14%), Western Europe (11%), and North America (7%). The countries that consume the greatest amounts of horse meat, being the major importers, are Italy, Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Japan (Gill, 2005). Particularly in Italy, horse meat consumption increased 31% from 2001 to 2006, with an internal production of 75 thousand metric tons and an importation of 19 thousand metric tons in 2006 (ISTAT, 2007). Young horses intended for meat production tend to have a high carcass yield of approximately 70% (Martin-Rosset et al., 1980; Catalano, et al., 1986; Badiani et al., 1993). The age at slaughter varies according to tradition. In France and Spain, animals are slaughtered at 16 to 24 mo of age (Micol and Trillaud-Geyl, 1997; Sarries and Beriain, 2005), whereas in Italy, the 11-to 18-mo-old foals are preferred (Tateo et al., 2006). Horse meat, as a component of a healthy human diet, possesses a very highly bioavailable iron content (3.89 mg/100 g), which is nearly double that of other red meat sources (Badiani et al., 1997), is low in intramuscular fat (Palenik et al., 1980), and is low in cholesterol (Robelin et al., 1984). According to Levine (1998), fat from horse meat is more digestible than that from lamb and beef and contains a greater proportion of components from the -linolenic fatty acid family. In addition, it is one of the few meat types that contains high concentrations of glycogen, providing the reason for its slightly sweet taste (Rødbotten et al., 2004; Stanislawczyk and Znamirowska, 2005). For these characteristics, horse meat may serve as a suitable meat source for those suffering from anemia or hypercholesterolemia, dieters, or those seeking an alternative to beef (Williams, 2000; Paleari et al., 2003).

Therefore, the objectives of this study were to 1) investigate the rheological and chemical characteristics of 6 different muscles (commercially considered high-quality cuts) obtained from Italian Heavy Draft horse (IHDH) foals (Tateo et al., 2006) not destined for breeding and 2) to evaluate the variability between the anatomical sites of sampling.

	MATERIALS AND METHODS

Top Abstract INTRODUCTION MATERIALS AND METHODS RESULTS AND DISCUSSION LITERATURE CITED

 
Animal Management

All procedures involving animals were conducted according to the Italian law on animal welfare in scientific experiments.

Twenty-four (12 entire males and 12 females) IHDH foals were selected at weaning (6 mo of age; average BW = 343.8 kg) to be fed to a common market age of 11 mo. All the horses were reared in indoor pens. Three horses were reared in each pen, assuring 6 m² of living surface per animal. Animals reared in the same pen were homogeneous for live BW. Horses were fed twice a day, administering 3 rations per pen. Through the fattening phase, horses were with the ration described in Table 1, according to nutritional requirements suggested by the French National Institute of Agronomic Research (Martin-Rosset, 1994).

Upon reaching typical market age (11 mo), all foals were humanely slaughtered according to European Union regulations (Council Directive of the European Union 95/221 EC) at an authorized abattoir at an average live BW of 497(± 12.32) kg. Animals were slaughtered on different days in relation to their date of birth. Carcasses were chilled for 72 h at 4° C. At 72 h postmortem, approximately 500 g of muscle tissue sample was excised from the following muscles obtained on the right carcass side: longissimus dorsi (LD; obtained adjacent the 17/18th thoracic vertebra juncture), semimembranosus (SM), semitendinosus (ST), biceps femoris (BF), and rectus femoris (RF). All tissue samples were collected from the approximate anatomical center of each respective muscle, avoiding heavy connective tissue and the aponeurotic extremities. Each sample was then placed in labeled bags and put on ice in a cooler for transport to the Meat Quality Laboratory of the Department of Public Health and Zootechnics of Bari (Italy), where each was repackaged in prelabeled vacuum-packaged bags, vacuum-packaged, and stored for 10 d at – 20° C. After 10 d of storage, the samples were thawed for 24 h at 2 to 5° C, unpackaged, and weighed in preparation for further analysis.

Rheological Parameters

Intramuscular pH. Postmortem intramuscular pH was obtained at the abattoir at intervals of 0.5, 1, 24, 48, and 72 h postexsanguination in the LD, SM, ST, RF, and BF using a Forlab pH 7120 portable pH probe (Carlo Erba, Milan, Italy) calibrated with pH 4 and 7 standards (Crison, Alella, Barcelona, Spain). The pH meter was self-correcting for changes in temperature. The pH measurements were recorded directly in the muscles, not dissected out of the carcasses.

Colorimetric Parameters. The colorimetric parameters were measured using a Minolta CR-300 colorimeter (Minolta Camera Co., Osaka, Japan; illuminant D65 and 0° observer) with the Hunter-Lab method, repeating the measurement 3 times, turning the sample 3 times by 90° , and repeating the procedure in 3 different places. The instrument was normalized to a standard white tile provided with the instrument before performing analysis (Y = 92.8, x = 0.3162, y = 0.3322). The colorimetric parameters were measured 72 h postmortem, on the samples dissected from the carcasses, on a fresh cut surface made in the approximate anatomical center of each respective muscle. The arithmetic mean of the 27 recordings obtained from each muscle sample was subjected to further statistical analysis. The coordinates a* and b* were used for the determination of the chroma = (a2 + b2)^1/2, as indicated by Mancini et al. (2004) and Little (1975). The same indexes were recorded on a fresh cut surface of perirenal and subcutaneous fat, 72 h after slaughtering.

Tenderness Evaluation. On each of the muscles, the degree of tenderness was tested through Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF), both on the raw sample and also on the sample cooked in plastic bags up to an internal temperature of 70° C for 3 min in a water bath at 85° C (measured with a copper constantin fine-wire thermocouple, Model 5SC-TT-T-30–36, Omega Engineering Inc., Stamford, CT, fixed in the geometrical center of the sample). The WBSF was measured using an Instron 1140 apparatus (Instron, High Wycombe, UK) interfaced with a computer, using a crosshead speed of 50 mm • min^{– 1} and a load cell of 50 N. The cut sample had a cylindrical form with a 1.27-cm diam. cut that was parallel to the muscle fiber direction. The force-deformation curve obtained served to calculate meat hardness. Shear forces were determined perpendicular to the fiber direction. Each sample (both raw and cooked) was sheared 3 times, and the arithmetic mean of the recordings obtained from each sample was subjected to further statistical analysis.

For determination of cooking loss, a meat sample of 1 cm³ was cut from each thawed muscle. After the weighing (initial weight, Wi), the sample was cooked in the same way as described above for WBSF determination on cooked meat. Subsequently, the meat sample was lightly dabbed and weighed (final weight, Wf). The cooking loss was calculated as a percentage of weight loss: [(Wi – Wf) x 100]/Wi.

Water-Holding Capacity. Water-holding capacity (WHC) was determined as suggested by Grau and Hamm (1953), as modified by Sañudo et al. (1986). Briefly, 5 g (Wi) of raw sample was cut into small pieces. The mixture was covered with 2 filter papers and 2 thin plates of quartz material. A weight of 2,250 g was put on 1 plate for 5 min. Afterward, the meat was removed from the paper, and the weight (Wf) of the meat was recorded. The WHC was expressed as a percentage of drip loss, calculated as WHC, % = [(Wi – Wf) x 100]/Wi.

Chemical Composition

Meat proteins were measured with the ISO 937–1978 method (ISO, 1978); intramuscular fat was measured with the ISO 1443–1973 method (ISO, 1973). Every muscle and subcutaneous tissue sample was homogenized with a mixture of chloroform and methanol (1:2, vol/vol) for the extraction of total lipids from intramuscular and subcutaneous fat, according to the method described by Bligh and Dyer (1959). Fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) were prepared by transesterification, using methanol in the presence of 3% hydrochloric acid in methanol (vol/vol). Fatty acid methyl esters were analyzed using a Trace GC ThermoQuest Gas Chromatograph (Thermo Electron, Rodano, Milan, Italy) equipped with a flame ionization detector. The derivatives were separated on a capillary column (Supelco SP-2380 fused-silica column, 30-m length, 0.25-mm i.d., and 0.20-mm film thickness). The injector and the detector temperatures were held at 260° C. Column oven program temperatures were as follows: T1 = 80° C hold 1 min; T2 = 150° C ramp at 15° C/min, hold 2 min; T3 = 220° C ramp at 5° C/min, hold 2 min; T4 = 250° C ramp at 15° C/min, hold 5 min. The flow rate of the carrier gas (He) was set at 0.8 mL/min. Identifications of FAME were based on the retention times of reference compounds (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO) and mass spectrometry. Fatty acid composition was expressed as the percentage of total FAME. Collagen was extracted following the Sörensen (1981) method. Determination of 4-hydroxyproline was performed according to the procedure suggested by Kindt et al. (2003) using electrospray mass spectrometry (LCQ Thermo Electron, CA, Waltham, MA) to avoid any derivatization step; acid hematin was determined with the method proposed by Hornsey (1956); the muscular glycogen was determined using the method of Dreiling et al. (1987) and Bond et al. (2004).

Statistical Analysis

The data related to the color of the perirenal and subcutaneous fats, and to the fatty acid composition of the subcutaneous fat, were processed using the GLM procedure (SAS Inst. Inc., Cary, NC), according to the following linear model

where Y_ij = dependent variables; M = overall mean; a_i = sex (1, 2); b_j = fat depot (1, 2); (a x b)_ij = binary interaction between sex and fat depot; and E_ijk = the error term.

All the other data were submitted to ANOVA using the same linear model, but where Y_ijk = dependent variables; M = overall mean; a_i = sex (1,2); b_j = muscle (1...5); (a x b)_ij = binary interaction between sex and muscle; and E_ijk = the error term. Because the interaction between sex and muscle did not influence the parameters investigated, it was decided to delete this term from the statistical model.

	RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Top Abstract INTRODUCTION MATERIALS AND METHODS RESULTS AND DISCUSSION LITERATURE CITED

 
pH

The variables related to pH were not influenced by the sources taken into account (Table 2).

In relation to the considered period of pH measurement, the optimal acidification of all the muscles considered was attained at 72 h from the slaughtering of the animal. For commercial reasons, in selling the product, not all operators in the sector respect these recommended aging times. This causes an incomplete tenderizing of the meat with evident effects on the product (Sarries and Beriain, 2006b).

Meat Color

The only source of variability that influenced the colorimetric indexes was the muscle type, in particular, lightness (L*) and yellowness (b*; P < 0.05), redness (a*; P < 0.01), and chroma (P < 0.001; Table 2). The binary interaction between sex and muscle affected this latter index (P < 0.05).

The colorimetric characteristics of this foal meat were not significantly influenced by sex, although the males had the slightly greater L*, a*, and chroma. This could be because, as postulated by Seideman et al. (1982), meat from males is darker than that from females due to their greater physical activity.

Comparison of the chromatic variations showed that the RF muscle is lighter (L*; P < 0.05) than the BF. More marked differences were observed for the redness index; the BF muscle showed lower values (P < 0.01) than the LD, SM, and RF muscles. The latter gave a statistically slighter difference (P < 0.05) only compared with the ST muscle.

In the comparison between muscles for the chroma, BF still showed the lowest value compared with the muscles RF, SM (P < 0.01), and LD (P < 0.05). Besides, RF muscles showed greater chroma than ST (P < 0.05). The RF muscle was the lightest, and, together with LD and SM, it showed a more intense redness (a*).

The intensity of redness of the muscles examined gave a* values comparable with those of 18-mo-old steers (Dunne et al. 2005), contrary to what was found by Arcos-Garcia et al. (2002) on meat of adult horses. Lightness of the samples was greater than recorded by Sarries and Beriain (2006b) on 16-mo and 24-mo-old foals, aged for 4 d. Redness and yellowness too showed lower values than reported by the same authors. Those results may be explained by a lower myoglobin content of muscles (a*) and by a different fatty acids composition of the intramuscular fat (b*), for the earliest age at slaughtering.

WHC

The variable WHC was influenced by both sources of variability taken into consideration by P < 0.05, whereas the cooking loss variable was influenced only by the muscles source by P < 0.05 (Table 2).

Water-holding capacity was greater in males than in females (P < 0.05). The WHC had a range of variation between 32.50% in the ST and 39.74% in the SM and RF (P < 0.05). The muscles that had a greater power to hold water were RF and SM.

Cooking loss did not reveal differences between the different muscles but did show significant difference (P < 0.05) between the sexes, with a greater value in the males. The thawing losses, ranging from 5.5 to 6%, did not seem to be influenced by sex or to depend on the muscle type.

WBSF

The muscle type source was the only one to influence the tenderness variable, both of raw (P < 0.01) and cooked (P < 0.001) samples. (Table 2). Sex variation source had no significant effect on the WBSF, in agreement with Sarries and Beriain (2006b).

The cutting force applied to the raw meat revealed differences only in the comparison between the 5 muscles. Contrary to what has been found previously in other species (Stolowski et al., 2006; Tschirhart-Hoelscher et al., 2006), the most tender muscle was the ST, which registered differences compared with BF (P < 0.01). After cooking, an increase was observed in the value for WBS in all the cases analyzed, as it was expected for the water losses. The shear force values of raw samples revealed greater tenderness than described by Sarries and Beriain (2006b), but cooked samples showed a tenderness similar to meat from 24-mo-old Barguete breed foals. The greater tenderness of raw meat may be explained by the early age at slaughtering, although, after cooking, the greater water losses cause an increasing shear force, similar to meat from 2-yr-old horses. Both raw and cocked BF muscle was still the toughest above all compared with the ST (P < 0.01). Raw samples of BF revealed greater shear force than LD and SM (P < 0.05), whereas cooked samples recorded greater hardness than SM (P < 0.01). The SM and ST cooked samples showed greater tenderness compared with LD and RF (P < 0.05). The high influence of muscle on tenderness has been recorded also in other species (Boleman et al., 2004; Wood et al., 2004; Stolowski et al., 2006) and may be explained by the different physiological function of the muscle in relation to anatomical position, that involves different histological characteristics (collagen quality and solubility, sarcomere length, etc.; Stolowski et al., 2006).

Fat Color

As a source of variability, sex did not influence the colorimetric indexes of either subcutaneous or perirenal fat (Table 3).

The reason for this may be linked to the younger age of the animals studied in this work, because the yellowness is influenced by the slaughtering age as well as by alimentation (Segato et al., 1999). This aspect is of great significance, bearing in mind that European consumers consider meat with yellow-colored fat to be of low quality.

Chemical Composition of Meat

The source of variability, sex, influenced the components moisture, protein, fat, and total collagen amounts (P < 0.05; Table 4). The source of variability, muscles, was significant for protein content (P < 0.05), for moisture (P < 0.01), and for insoluble collagen and myoglobin (P < 0.001). These latter 2 variables were also affected by the interaction between sex and muscle (P < 0.05).

The percentage of protein in the meat of male animals was around 2 percentage points greater (P < 0.05). The muscle that showed the lowest protein percentage was SM, above all in comparison with the LD muscle (P < 0.05).

The intramuscular fat recorded confirms what was previously noted with regard to the incidence of the adipose fraction on the carcass in the case both of evaluation by means of European Union carcass fattening grids and at the dissection of the carcass (Tateo et al., 2005). In fact, in male animals, there was a greater intramuscular lipid fraction with respect to that in females. In the comparison between the muscles, however, the only difference found was those of the SM muscle, which had a greater value compared with ST (P < 0.05).

There was no difference for myoglobin content in the comparison between the sexes. The most contained values of myoglobin (P < 0.01) are those related to the BF and ST muscles as shown for the a* index.

The total collagen amount was more abundant in the females (P < 0.01). The muscle that contained the greatest quantity was LD, which showed significant differences with SM (P < 0.05).

Although it was more present in the females, the insoluble collagen did not reach statistical significance. The LD muscle also contained a greater quantity of insoluble collagen compared with the muscles BF and SM (P < 0.01) and to RF and ST (P < 0.05). The collagen content did not seem to be related to the shear force of either the raw or cooked meat, confirming the influence on tenderness of many other factors such as contractility, the length of the sarcomers, and the dimensions and conservation state of the fibers (Wheeler et al., 2000). Collagen content was lower than recorded by Sarries and Beriain (2005), although its solubility was greater than reported by the same authors, highlighting that in meat from foals slaughtered at 11 mo old, the collagen content is not as great as in mature animals. Besides, the IHDH breed has fast development of muscles in a growing period (Tateo et al., 2005), leading to an increased solubility of the collagen (Listrat et al., 2001; Picard, et al., 2006).

The glycogen content showed significant differences between BF and RF (P < 0.05). The myoglobin content was positively correlated with the a* index. Moisture content recorded in the present work was greater than that reported by Sarries and Beriain (2005), although fat and protein content on dry matter was similar to meat from 24-mo-old foals of Barguete breed and superior to animals of the same breed slaughtered at 16 mo old. The ash content recorded on meat from 11-mo-old slaughtered IHDH foals was greatly lower than that described by Sarries and Beriain (2005).

Fatty Acid Composition of Intramuscular Fat

The source of the sex variability influenced (P < 0.05) the SFA C14:0 and C16:0 and unsaturated fatty acids (UFA) C18:1(9) and C18:2n-6 (Table 5). In addition, the same source revealed an effect on the MUFA (P < 0.05) and on the PUFA (P < 0.01). The influence of the type of muscle on the fatty acid composition was manifested on SFA (P < 0.01) for the C14:0, for the C16:0 and C20:0 (P < 0.05), and for stearic acid (P < 0.001). For the UFA, the influence of the muscle source was significant for the C16:1(9) (P < 0.05) and for the C18:1n-6 (P < 0.01).

Oleic acid (C18:1) was more frequent in the females (P < 0.05); on the contrary, C18:2n-6 was greater in the males (P < 0.05). The concentration of SFA was slightly greater than 44% in both sexes.

The greater presence of MUFA was seen in the intramuscular fat of the females (P < 0.05). On the contrary, in the intramuscular fat of the males, it was found in a greater quantity of PUFA (P < 0.01).

The ratios between MUFA, PUFA, and SFA, including the n-6/n-3 ratio, did not show any significant statistical difference depending on sex. Significant differences in fatty acid composition between male and females were not recorded also by Sarries et al. (2006a) on Barguete breed foals slaughtered at 16 and 24 mo old.

It was found that C14:0 was most strongly present in the ST compared with all the others but with significant differences with RF (P < 0.01) and with LD and SM (P < 0.05). There was a lesser quantity of stearic acid in BF, LD, and ST muscles compared with SM and RF (P < 0.01). The latter muscle showed a greater content of C18:0 than SM (P < 0.05). The C:20 in the SM was greater compared with BF, LD, and RF (P < 0.05). It was also found that C16:1 was more present in the BF with respect to LD and RF (P < 0.05). The acid C18:1 n-6 was little present in the SM with respect to the BF (P < 0.01) and RF (P < 0.05).

The limited differences in the acidic composition, described in the comparison between the muscles, were completely annulled both in the aggregation of fatty acids in SFA, MUFA and PUFA and in their ratios. An exception was the n-6/n-3 ratio, in which n-6 prevailed in the BF muscle compared with the SM (P < 0.05). The intramuscular fat of the females was richer in unsaturated fatty acids (UFA) that of the males however was more abundant in PUFA but, in the final analysis, these differences cannot make one cut preferable to another. As a result of its high degree of unsaturation of the intramuscular fatty acids, the meat of foal is more suitable from a dietetic point of view than veal or beef, because it has a greater ratio between SFA and UFA. Fatty acid composition of intramuscular adipose tissue showed that the MUFA and PUFA content increases with age. This may explain the greater SFA content in 11-mo-old slaughtered foals than that recorded by Sarries et al. (2006a) at 16 and 24 mo. The different fatty acid composition of intramuscular fat may be the reason of the differences of yellowness (b*) index (Mancini and Hunt, 2005) emerging between what was reported by the same authors (Sarries and Beriain, 2006) and the present work.

Fatty Acid Composition of Subcutaneous Fat

The source sex showed an influence (P < 0.05) for C12:0, C18:0, C16:1(9), C18:1(9), C18:2n-6, SFA, and MUFA (Table 6).

The subcutaneous fat showed a greater degree of saturation in the male animals (P < 0.05). In the females, on the other hand, MUFA were more concentrated (P < 0.05). The ratios between SFA, MUFA, and PUFA did not show any statistical difference, as in the intramuscular fat.

Influence of Fat Depot and Sex on Fatty Acids Composition

Among SFA, intramuscular fat showed greater levels of C12:0, C18:0, and C20:0 (P < 0.01) than subcutaneous fat depot (Table 7). Besides, intramuscular fat presented greater quantities of C14:1(9) and C18:3n-3 (P < 0.01) than subcutaneous fat. On the other hand, the latter showed greater concentrations of C16:1(9) (P < 0.01) and C18:1(9) (P < 0.05) than intramuscular fat. The MUFA content and the n-6/n-3 ratio were greater in subcutaneous fat depot (P < 0.01). Consequently, the SFA/MUFA (P < 0.01) and the SFA/UFA (P < 0.05) ratios were greater in intramuscular fat depot than in a subcutaneous one. These results were consistent with previous reports about horse meat (Sarries et al., 2006a), beef (Noci et al., 2005; Indurain et al., 2006), and lamb (Moibi and Christopherson, 2001). The high MUFA content may be the result of elevated stearoyl-CoA ⁹-desaturase activity, stimulated by the low temperature of the body surface (Beaulieu et al., 2002; Taniguchi et al., 2004).

Conclusions

Although in Italy IHDH breeding is often only a complementary activity, it nonetheless has great potential for development, because at the present time, the animals slaughtered come above all from other countries.

The rheological and nutritional qualities of the meat obtained from imported animals does not always correspond to the characteristics required by the consumer. Indeed foals slaughtered at an age superior to 18 mo produce dark meat, yellow marbling, and subcutaneous adipose tissue, characteristics not appreciated by consumers and a reason of the limited development of the consumption of this meat worldwide. Meat from IHDH foals slaughtered at 11 mo old showed physicochemical properties similar to beef, although with a greater unsaturation index. The colorimetry of the subcutaneous fat and perirenal fat shows that the typical yellow color of the fat of adult animals, that does not find favor with consumers, has not yet been acquired at this age. The meat produced has low redness, for the low myoglobin content, and high lightness. Besides, the low collagen content and its high solubility indicates an appreciable tenderness, useful for promotion of this product.

As a result of the greater level of unsaturation of the intramuscular fat, horse meat is more suitable from a dietetic point of view than veal or beef, because it has a greater ratio between saturated and unsaturated fats.

It is fundamental to underline that the sex did not affect meat quality, perhaps because animals are slaughtered at an early age, when there is still not an important action of sexual hormones. On the contrary, a high variability on foal meat quality is due to the type of muscle sampled. This involves that the evaluation of samples from a single muscle may be not representative of the quality of the whole carcass.

The results obtained from the present work represent a starting point for the promotion of this product and editing of production code for a quality brand creation.

	Footnotes

 
¹ Research carried out with the contribution of the Regional Association of Breeders of Apulia. We thank Francesco D’Onghia, Fabio Feolo, and Giovanna Calzaretti (Department of Public Health and Animal Production) for their assistance in conducting the experiment.

² Corresponding author: p.depalo{at}veterinaria.uniba.it

Received for publication October 4, 2007. Accepted for publication January 24, 2008.

	LITERATURE CITED

Top Abstract INTRODUCTION MATERIALS AND METHODS RESULTS AND DISCUSSION LITERATURE CITED

 


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