Lipids in monogastric animal meat

Meat from monogastric animals, essentially pigs and poultry, is from afar t he most consumed of all meats. Meat products from every species have their own characteristics. For a long time, pig meat has been presented as a fatt y meat because of the importance of subcutaneous adipose tissue. Actually, when the visible fat is separated, this meat is rather poor in lipids: piec es eaten as fresh meat and without transformation, such as roasts, contain less then 2% total lipids. Poultry meat has always had a reputation of lean ness because of its low content in intramuscular lipids. In addition, adipo se tissues, localised in the abdominal cavity, are easily separable. The pr ogress in genetics and a better knowledge of dietary needs has allowed to i mprove growth performances, to increase muscle weight and, in the pig, to s trongly decrease carcass adiposity. However, strong contradictions appear b etween transformers and nutritionists, especially concerning the pig: the f ormer wish to have meat with adipose tissues containing a high percentage o f saturated fatty acids and the latter wish meat with more unsaturated fatt y acids. The consumer, however, regrets the pigs of yesteryear or the poult ry bred on farmyard that had tastier meat. At the same time, however, they request meat with a low fat content, which is paradoxical.