Effective manipulation of fatty acid profiles in pork products aimed at enhancing the contribution of pork to human health

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The Canadian pork industry is an important contributor to the Canadian economy. Farm gate sales are estimated at $3.5 billion per year and the contribution of the pork industry to Canadian exports exceeds $2.8 billion per year. Export accounts for more than half of Canadian pork production. For the Canadian pork industry to remain internationally competitive, improvements in pork meat quality are critical and new opportunities for value-added pork products should be explored. The overall aim of proposed research is to develop feeding strategies for cost-effective production of value-added pork products that contain predictable and uniform levels of beneficial ?-3 fatty acids without compromising carcass and meat quality, thereby providing health benefits to the consumer. Nutrient metabolism studies will be conducted to improve the efficiency of incorporating beneficial ?-3 fatty acids - especially biologically potent eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA; C20:5?-3) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; C22:6?-3) - into pork products. A pig performance study will be conducted to evaluate animal productivity and aspects of meat quality in different pork products (loin chops, smoked ham, bacon, sausages), including sensory evaluation using a trained taste panel, from pigs that are exposed to different feeding strategies aimed at maximizing linolenic acid (ALA, C18:3?-3), DHA and EPA content in pork. Pork products that are enriched with key ?-3 fatty acids, especially biologically potent EPA and DHA, will address the chronic sub-optimal intake of essential fatty acids by Canadians, and provide important health benefits to consumers. The latter will address directly the high costs of providing health care to Canadians. Assuming that due the reduced incidence of heart and bone disease or cancer, because of increased consumption of beneficial ?-3 fatty acids, health care costs in Canada are reduced by 0.01%, then this represents annual savings of at least $12 million to Canadian society. An improved understanding of diet effects on the conversion of ingested linolenic acid (ALA, C18:3?-3) to EPA and DHA can have implications for recommended use of ALA from a wide range of dietary sources by Canadians.