OSTRICH MEAT - PHYSICOCHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND COMPARISON WITH TURKEY AND BOVINE MEAT

In several European countries ostrich breeding has now become quite co mmon. In Italy this has also given rise to the need for regulations fo r the slaughtering of Ratites. The present work studies and compares t he physico-chemical characteristics of the meat from the thigh of the ostrich with the same anatomical cuts of turkey and bovine. The ostric h meat muscle of the thigh was imported vacuum packed from Israel and France, the muscles considered were m. flexor cruris and m. iliofibula ris. The turkey thighs were from the domestic market (supermarket) and the bovine muscle m. pectineus was from spent milking animals from an EEC slaughterhouse. Needless to say that the breeding, the feeding an d the system of slaughtering could influence some parameters of the di fferent kinds of meat; however these factors could not be assessed. Du e to its tenderness, lowfat content and cholesterol levels ostrich mea t is, in accordance with modern-day nutritional principles, a valid al ternative to other kinds of meat. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All r ights reserved.