Quality of Italian Istrian Milk lamb meat. Influence of carcass weight and feeding system

The Istrian Milk sheep is an endangered breed of the Pramenka group raised in the North-Adriatic Karst region. Carcass and meat characteristics of 46 suckling, 6- to 14- week-old intact male light lambs from two feeding systems were analysed. Thirty-two lambs were raised in a flock fed only with forage (hay supplied in stall during winter or fresh herbage directly grazed during the other seasons). The lambs had free access to the forage supplied to their dams (feeding sys- tem: milk and forage; MF). The other fourteen suckling ovine were grown on a farm with a feeding system incorporat- ing a concentrated supply of the forage base. The lambs were stabled and creep fed on a concentrate (20% CP) at a daily rate of 100 g/head, in addition to the suckled milk (feeding system: milk and concentrate; MC). The carcasses were divid- ed into three categories of weight, following the Community scale of light lambs classification: A (lesser than or equal to 7 kg, n=17), B (7.1-10 kg, n=15) and C (10.1-13 kg, n=14). The frequency of 1st quality carcasses increased with carcass weight, reaching 100% in category C. On average, 72% of the carcasses were scored as 1st quality, without significant differences between feeding systems. The lightness of lamb meat from A carcasses was higher than that from the heaviest ones. Cooking losses showed a pattern opposite to that of pH (mean 5.44; SE 0.058), increasing where pH decreased (cate- gories A and B and concentrate-fed lambs). Shear force values were significantly affected by factors linked to the feed- ing system; in fact, MC lambs provided more tender meat than MF ones (32.6 vs 46.6 N). As carcass weight increased, moisture concentration decreased steadily (from 77.8% to 75.5%), while lipid content increased progressively (from 1.58% to 3.14%). In agreement with these patterns, the contribution of individual fatty acids (FA) to muscle weight gen- erally increased with carcass weight. A similar trend was observed for the relative concentration of saturated FA and monounsaturated FA, while that of polyunsaturated FA (PUFA) showed an opposite evolution. The feeding system modi- fied the relationship between ω3 and ω6 PUFA series: with respect to MC meat, MF meat presented a higher content of linolenic acid and its long chain ω3 derivatives and a lower content of linoleic acid and its major product, arachidonic acid. As a consequence, MF lambs furnished meat with a ω3/ω6 ratio and an index of thrombogenicity more favourable for human health than those from MC lambs

Caratteristiche qualitative di cinque variet\ue0 di mela del Friuli Venezia Giulia.

Lo scopo della ricerca era di valutare le caratteristiche qualitative (profilo sensoriale, pH, colore, testurometria, sostanza secca e contenuto calorico) delle mele Golden delicious, Red delicious, Granny Smith, Royal Gala e Morgenduft prodotte in regione. Per queste variet\ue0, l'Associazione per la certificazione, costituita tra i frutticoitori locali, ha ottenuto la protezione transitoria sulla DOP

Sensory quality of Italian Istrian milk lamb meat as affected by production system

The Istrian Milk (or Istriana) is an endangered sheep of the Pramenka group, spread over the Adriatic Karst region of three bordering countries: Croatia, Italy and Slovenia. Its preservation is functional to the protection and restoration of the classic, high ecological value landscape of North-Adriatic uplands. Typification and differentiation are considered very effective in adding value to livestock products and improving their appeal. To provide objective information on the meat quality of Istrian Milk light lamb, the loins (longissimus dorsi muscle) of thirty suckling lambs from three theses, differing in rearing practices and feeding regime (milk, milk and concentrates, milk and grazed forage), were analysed. The results showed that there are substantial differences between lamb types in the sensory-perceived qualities of their meat. These differences included texture profile, mainly linked to rearing systems, and various odour and flavour attributes, mainly related to feed consumed by the animal

Effect of animal feeding system information on consumer expectation and acceptability of lamb meat

One hundred and seven people took part in a central location test, organised to evaluate the consumer expectations generated by information on animal feeding system and to assess the effect of this knowledge on the hedonic ratings of local lamb meat. Using a nine-point hedonic scale, first blind and then informed scores were collected on two types of Istrian Milk meat, from lambs fed either on suckled milk and pasture (P meat) or hay and concentrate (C meat). In the blind condition, a significant difference was found between samples, C receiving higher scores than P meat (6.9 vs 6.4 points; p<0.05). There was a significant difference between expected, E, and blind, B, evaluation for both types of meat: the disconfirmation was positive for C (-0.9; p<0.01), which was perceived to be better than expected, and negative for P meat (0.9; p<0.01). Informed liking scores (I) revealed no significant differences between the two types of lamb meat and did not significantly differ from the blind hedonic scores for C meat. On the contrary, providing information on the animal feeding system positively affected the liking of P meat (I-B= 0.5; p<0.01). However this assimilation was not complete (I-E= -0.4; p<0.01), implying that both extrinsic and intrinsic characteristics have an impact on the informed liking of pasture-produced lamb meat