Analysis Of Poultry And Rabbit Meat

Consumers are increasingly aware of “functional food” components that can have positive effects on health maintenance and disease prevention (Lock and Bauman, 2004). Both poultry and rabbit meat are foods with high significance for human nutrition and health and their value can be further enhanced by appropriate feeding strategy. Regarding nutritional aspects, poultry and rabbit meat well fit the modern consumer demand for a low-fat meat with a high unsaturation degree of fatty acids and low Na and cholesterol concentrations (Cavani and Petracci, 2008; Laudadio et al., 2012). Poultry and rabbit meat may also be considered as “functional foods”, providing bioactive molecules with positive effects on health, like conjugated linoleic acid (CLA),
On the other hand, this way is restricted due to the physiology of poultry. Even a 3-fold increase of egg n-3 PUFA by more consumption of n-3 PUFA by hens should be considered quite small, in particular compared to n-3 PUFA human daily intake recommended (up to 2000 mg per day). By manipulating laying hens diet it was achievable to improve the Se levels, vitamin E and lutein. The simplest way is to produce enriched eggs in linolenic acid, a precursor of DHA and considered to have a defensive effect against heart disorders (Weggemans et al., 2001). For this reason, the birds’ diet is rich in flaxseeds, linseeds or their oils; as a result the egg-yolk is enriched with alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) and also the concentration of DHA is improved (Koning and Mol, 1989). Including vitamin E in the laying hen diet at 200 mg/kg has been found to be a valuable antioxidant (Galobart et al., 2001). Ayerza and Coates (2001) demonstrated that mixing flaxseed with chia seeds (Salvia hispanica, as rich source of ALA) in the diet successfully increased ALA level in yolk without any unfavorable effect on egg sensorial traits. Fredriksson et al. (2006) found that increased concentrations of ALA in diet determined higher DHA level in yolk, demonstrating elongation and desaturation of ALA towards
The major deriving forces for manipulating the milk composition included the aims of enhancing the manufacturing and processing of milk and dairy products, changing milk nutritional value to conform the dietary specifications and using milk as a delivery system for nutraceuticals with known benefits to human health (Tripathi, 2014). The conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is known as the potential anticarcinogen in milk, which can be manipulated through dietary changes (Miri et al., 2013). Recently ability of casein micelles has been demonstrated to deliver biologically active concentrations of polyphenols that display anticancer activities in colon cancer cells (Haratifar et al., 2014). Therefore, dietary modifications of dairy animals may aim to improve bioefficacy of biologically active polyphenols in milk to deliver for human health. Milk fat is relatively more saturated than most oils from plants, determining a negative perception of consumer and a public health concern related to excessive consumption of saturated fats. Milk FA composition can be modified through dairy species, contributing to the chance to take action to market forces and health recommendations from humans (Tufarelli et al., 2012). The impact of dairy nutrition on milk fat level and FA profile has been widely investigated (Sutton, 1989; Ashes et al.,