Lipid content and fatty acids compositions in commercial cuts of young goat meat

Abstract

Brazil has the largest herd of goats of the American continent, with more than 9 million head. Goat farming is considered a growing and important activity for the economy, mainly in the northeastern region of Brazil. In this research, were determined the lipid content and the composition of fillet and shank fatty acids of young goats, registered in the inspection sector of the Ministry of Agriculture and marketed in the city of Salvador (Bahia). The average percentage of total lipids in the fillet was 1.68±0.04 and in the shank of 4.02±0.09, this is a significant difference between the cuts (P<0.05). Twenty-seven (27) fatty acids were identified in the cuts, most are palmitic acid (C16:0), stearic acid (C18:0) and oleic acid (C18:1ω9) present in 21.32%, 20.39%, 34.49% in the fillet and 21.74%, 21.94%, 33.38% in the shank, respectively. The total sums of saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids ranged of 42.75 to 45.23% and 14.04 to 12.35% between fillet and shank cuts, respectively. The ratio of PUFA/SFA was 0.35 for fillet and 0.15 for shank, and the ratio ω6/ω3 was 3.07 for fillet and 2.27 for shank. Therefore, is a significant difference in total lipid content and fatty acid composition in commercial cuts of beef fillet and shank.