THE PROTEIN EFFICIENCY RATIOS OF 30 70 MIXTURES OF ANIMAL-VEGETABLE PROTEIN ARE SIMILAR OR HIGHER THAN THOSE OF THE ANIMAL FOODS ALONE/

Animal foods in general are considered to be foods with high protein q ualities, although their qualities are not always similar because of d ifferences in essential amino acids. The purpose of this study was to compare the protein quality of different animal foods and of their mix tures with vegetable foods, mainly cereals, at the 30:70 animal:vegeta ble protein proportion with experiments performed under the same condi tions. The animal foods were eggs, beef, pork, barbecued lamb, chicken , ham, sausage and milk powder. The vegetable foods used in the mixtur es were rice, lime-treated corn flour, wheat flour and cooked black be ans. The protein concentrations in the raw and cooked materials were a nalyzed. The protein efficiency ratios (PER) and digestibilities were determined in Fisher 344 weanling rats. Based on the corrected PER, th e foods with the best protein quality were egg (3.24), sirloin beef (3 .16), lamb (3.11) and chicken breast (3.07), which were significantly different (P < 0.05) from milk powder (2.88) and beef liver and beef r ound (2.81 and 2.70, respectively). The ham (2.63) and the pork loin ( 2.57) had a similar protein quality to that of casein (2.50). The lowe st protein quality was found in sausages (2.14). In most of the mixtur es of animal and vegetable protein (30:70), the PER was similar to or higher than that of the animal food alone. Beans were the vegetable fo od that showed the lowest response to the addition of animal food. The conclusion of the study is that some 30:70 mixtures of animal:vegetab le protein, such as chicken, beef round and pork with cereals could be utilized far regular meals because of their high PER and low cost.