A Challenge for Industry - to Transform Chicken Skin into Leather to Benefit Food Safety and Human Health

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High cholesterol, obesity and cardiovascular diseases tend to accompany the economicdevelopment of a country. This occurs not only from increased supply of fatty foods, but also fromignorance and use of poor diets. It is known that the dietary habits of the different populations reflecta historical process of adaptation to the regional realities. Chicken skin is rich in cholesterol and theemergence of this in the blood depends on the composition of the diet, and increased consumptionby the Brazilian population has been noted in the last few decades concurrently with increasedpoultry consumption. It is also known that the population consumes fried skin, which further impactshealth. To restrict the use of the skin maybe through legislation was the best solution, but it wouldaffect the productivity of the poultry sector negatively. In Brazil, per capita poultry consumptionpassed from 4 to 23 kg/year. A study was developed to reduce consumption of chicken skin whilemaintaining or enhancing poultry profitability by converting skin into treated leather. The collecteddata allowed inference of the economical viability and consumer benefits. The first stage of this workwas the study of the economical variability and the skin transformation in treated leather. A secondphase is planned to obtain representative analyses of skin nutritional content (cholesterol, fatty acidsand triglycerides), to further quantify fats composition prior to cooking.