Meat quality from pigs fed tomato processing waste. (January 2020) - Biondi, Luisa
Abstract: Sixteen Nero Siciliano pigs were used to investigate the effect of dietary tomato processing waste on meat quality. During 86 days one group (CON, n = 8) received a pelleted conventional diet, while another group (TOM, n = 8) received the same diet in which tomato waste replaced 15% of corn. The dietary treatment did not affect growth performances. The TOM diet reduced intramuscular fat, SFA and MUFA content, while increasing the n- 6: n- 3 ratio in meat ( P < .05). The TOM diet increased the concentration of PUFA, PUFA n -3, PUFA n -6 and the n- 6: n- 3 ratio ( P < .01). The instrumental colour descriptors of backfat were unaffected by diet. The TOM diet increased deposition of retinol in meat ( P < .001) but did not affect oxidative stability parameters measured in fresh meat and meat homogenates with pro-oxidant catalysts. Concluding, tomato pomace fed to pigs at higher levels compared to previous reports had no adverse effects on the investigated meat quality traits.