Shelf life and quality of pork and pork products with raised n-3 PUFA

Pork chops, liver, bacon and sausages from 80 pigs fed on a control or a li nseed-rich test diet were assessed for their sensory qualities and oxidativ e stability after conditioning and storage, either frozen or under simulate d retail display. There was no significant effect of diet on lipid oxidatio n as assessed by the TEA test (P > 0.05) for pork, liver and sausages, valu es being less than 0.2 throughout the display period, lower than the thresh old of 0.5 mg MDA/kg at which consumers may detect rancidity. Nor was there any significant effect of diet on colour changes of pork chops, sausages a nd bacon under simulated retail display conditions. Grilled loin chops, bac on and sausages from male pigs received significantly higher abnormal flavo ur scores than those from females but panellists were unable to discern any major differences between control and test diets, even though they could d etect this relatively small sex effect. The test diet resulted in higher al pha-linolenic acid (18:3) levels, with major increases in total n-3 PUFA co ntent, but the concentrations were generally lower than reported values tha t have resulted in stability problems. The n-6 PUFA content was also reduce d by the test diet. The results demonstrate that the nutritional value of p igmeat can be improved by using an 18:3-enriched diet without adversely aff ecting normal eating quality parameters. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.