Long Chain Omega-3 Fatty Acid Levels in Loin Muscle from Transgenic (fat-1 gene) Pigs and Effects on Lipid Oxidation During Storage

• Published in: Food biotechnology 2011-04, Vol.25 (2), p.103-114
• Main Authors: Richards, Mark P, Kathirvel, Priya, Gong, Yuansheng, Lopez-Hernandez, Arnoldo, Walters, Eric M, Prather, Randall S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Diet; Fatty acids; genes; Hogs; lipid peroxidation; lipid profile; meat quality; omega-3 fatty acids; Oxidation; oxidative stability; pork; swine; thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances; transgenic; Transgenic animals; volatiles
• ISSN: 0890-5436; 1532-4249; 1532-4249
• DOI: 10.1080/08905436.2011.576552

Studies suggest a diet rich in long chain omega-3 fatty acids (LCn3) can promote visual, neural and vascular health. Pork muscle typically has small amounts of LCn3. A transgenic technology involving the fat-1 gene has been developed to increase LCn3 in various pig tissues; however, pork loin muscle has not been examined to date. We have determined that the LCn3 content in loin muscle (Longissimus) from fat-1 pigs was 1.59-2.24 g/100 g lipid compared to 0.34-0.38 g/100 g lipid in control samples. Lipid oxidation products were measured in ground and salted loin muscle from control and fat-1 pigs during storage at -4°C. There was no clear trend as to whether the fat-1 gene technology increased or decreased oxidative stability of the muscle during storage based on lipid peroxide and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) values. There were a greater number of volatiles detected in stored loin from fat-1 pigs compared to control. Volatiles common to control and fat-1 pigs were elevated in stored loin from fat-1 pigs. This is the first report indicating that the use of fat-1 transgenic technology significantly increases the amount of desirable LCn3 in pork loin muscle.