EFFECT OF DIETARY ADMINISTRATION OF OIL EXTRACTS FROM ROSEMARY AND SAGE ON LIPID OXIDATION IN BROILER MEAT

1. Oxidation of meat and membrane from broilers fed on a diet containi ng 500 mg/kg rosemary and sage extracts was compared to meat and membr ane oxidation from broilers receiving a control diet (not enriched wit h antioxidants) and a diet enriched in alpha-tocopheryl acetate (200 m g/kg). 2. After 9 d of refrigerated storage, thiobarbituric acid react ive substances of white meat from broilers fed on the control and the alpha-tocopheryl acetate-enriched diets were 0.51 and 0.25 mg malonald ehyde/kg meat, respectively. Values for meat from broilers fed on the diets containing the rosemary and sage extracts were in the range 0.30 to 0.35 mg malonaldehyde/kg meat, significantly lower than those from birds fed on the control diet. A similar trend was observed in the da rk meat but differences were not significant at 9 d of storage. Simila r trends were observed in raw samples stored at -20 degrees C for up t o 4 months and in samples cooked at 70 degrees C and kept stored under refrigeration for up to 4 d. 3. The meat from broilers fed on the die t containing spice extracts had smaller concentrations of total choles terol oxidation products (COPS) than meat from the control group (P<0. 05). Supplemental alpha-tocopheryl acetate reduced the COPS concentrat ions to a greater extent than did spice extracts (P<0.05). 4. A simila r trend was observed in microsomal fraction isolates, in which the rat e of metmyoglobin/hydrogen peroxide-catalysed lipid peroxidation was l ower in animals receiving spice extracts than in those fed on the basa l diet.