Moisture, total lipids and fatty acids in raw longissimus muscle from Venezuelan cattle
Uzcátegui, S.; Huerta-Leidenz, N.; Arenas de Moreno, L.; Colina, G.; Jerez-Timaure, N.
Archivos Latinoamericanos de Nutricion 49(2): 171-180
1999
ISSN/ISBN: 0004-0622 PMID: 10488398 Document Number: 498289
Carcasses of 14 dairy crossbred and 131 zebu crossbred cattle slaughtered in Venezuela were classified by age (2.5, 3.0, 3.5 and >=4.0 years of age, estimated by dentition), and carcass fatness (as described by various criteria, including marbling levels) to study variation in moisture (M), lipid (L) and fatty acid (FA) contents of longissimus muscle trimmed to zero fat cover. Overall means per 100 g of raw product for M and L were 73.9+or-1.36 and 2.9+or-1.04, respectively. Analyses of variance by the least squares method showed that age, breed type, marbling, backfat thickness and carcass finish affected (P<0.05) fatty acid profiles. The oldest cattle group tended to have a lower intramuscular lipid content (2.72 g/100 g) and had the highest (2.04) unsaturation (unsaturated/saturated FA) index (P<0.05). Breed type had little effect on the FA profile. Comparison of least square means showed intramuscular concentrations of myristic and linolenic acids were slightly higher in samples from dairy types (P<0.05). Carcasses with poor, "patch-like" fat distribution, had muscles with the highest (0.16) polyunsaturated/saturated FA index (P<0.05). Unsaturation indexes for trimmed beef samples with the prevailing marbling levels (1.76 for "Traces" to 1.92 for "Devoid") showed a clear predominance of unsaturates, relatively larger than that estimated from compositional FA data reported for the same cut in the USA.