DIETARY ALPHA-LINOLENIC ACID AND MIXED TOCOPHEROLS, AND PACKAGING INFLUENCES ON LIPID STABILITY IN BROILER CHICKEN BREAST AND LEG MUSCLE

Addition of alpha-linolenic acid alone or plus mixed tocopherols, to t he diet of broiler chickens had significant effects on composition of muscle fatty acids. Degree of unsaturation in both neutral lipids and phospholipids was increased. Both the tocopherols in the tissues and t he storage stability of the meat were affected by the degree of polyun saturation in fatty acids and dietary tocopherols. The amount of tocop herols in leg meat was higher than that of breast meat, and the antiox idant effect of dietary tocopherols was significant in cooked leg meat with hot- and cold-vacuum packaging. Dietary tocopherols were not eff ective in the control of lipid oxidation in loosely packaged cooked me at. Lipid oxidation in alpha-linolenic acid-enriched cooked broiler me at could be controlled by hot-vacuum packaging, but the antioxidant ef fect of hot packaging plus dietary tocopherol was greater than hot pac kaging or tocopherol alone.