The effects of the addition of heated oils to feeds (3%, w/w) and the dietary supplementation with a-tocopheryl acetate (TA; 100 mg/kg) and Zn (200 mg/kg) on rabbit tissue fatty acid (FA) composition and on the Zn, Cu, Fe and Se content in meat were assessed. Heating unrefined sunflower oil (SO) at 558C for 245 h increased its content in primary oxidation products and reduced its a-tocopherol content. However, this did not significantly affect tissue FA composition. Heating SO at 1408C for 31 h increased its content in secondary oxidation products and in some FA isomers as c9,t11-CLA and di-trans CLA. This led to increases in di-trans CLA in liver and in t9,c12-18:2 in meat. The c9,t11-CLA was the most incorporated CLA isomer in tissues. The dietary supplementation with a-TA did not affect the FA composition of plasma, liver or meat. The cooking of vacuum-packed rabbit meat at 788C for 5 min reduced significantly but slightly its polyunsaturated FA content. The dietary supplementation with Zn did not modify the content of Zn, Fe or Se in meat, but it reduced its Cu content. On the other hand, it increased the content of some FAs in meat when SO heated at 1408C for 31 h was added to feeds.Keywords: heated oils, fatty acid composition, plasma, liver, meat Implications An animal's diet has an influence on the composition of its tissues, which can be used to improve the nutritional value of meat, for instance modifying its fatty acid (FA) composition or increasing its mineral content. Unsaturated fat products used in feeds are prone to oxidation that can occur both during their production process and their storage, leading to a high content of oxidation compounds and altering their FA profile. This might affect the tissue composition, and thus the meat nutritional value. We studied the influence of the addition of oxidized oils and minerals to rabbit feeds on the FA composition of its plasma, liver and meat and on its meat element content.
IntroductionFatty acid (FA) composition of animal tissues can be modified by the type and amount of dietary fat (Wood and Enser, 1997). Dietary recommendations for humans suggest reducing the intake of not only fat and cholesterol but also saturated FAs (SFA) and trans FA, and increasing the intake of polyunsaturated FAs (PUFAs), mainly those from the n-3 series (Food and Nutrition Board, 2005). Therefore, in order to obtain more healthy meat, several unsaturated fat sources have been incorporated to feeds to nutritionally improve meat FA composition (Wood and Enser, 1997).However, unsaturated fat sources are prone to oxidation that can occur both at low and high temperatures. At low temperatures, for instance during storage of unsaturated fats at ambient temperature, lipid hydroperoxides (LHPs) increase until they reach a plateau, and then decompose into secondary oxidation compounds. At high temperatures, decomposition of LHP is faster and isomerization of FA is also favored, leading to the appearance of both geometric and positional FA isomers, as several trans FA and conjugate...