Abstract
Taste, quality and perceived health benefits result in a high demand for both green and mature pork products derived from the Iberian bred swine. These characteristics are directly related to diet and breeding style (free ranging in a particular Mediterranean ecosystem: the Dehesa). Given that current demand is not matched by the available resources, animal feed is increasingly used. GC-C-IRMS analysis of Palmitic, Stearic, Oleic and Linoleic Acid methyl esters allows for differentiating between pork raised in the traditional way and that fattened on animal feed. Although a value of δ 13 C C18:1 = –25.9‰ is a good discriminator, exploratory analysis of principal canonical components is required to properly assign any unknown sample.
Highlights
The Iberian pig breed has been reared in an extensive fashion in the “Dehesa1”, a distinctive ecosystem of the western and southern Iberian Peninsula, feeding on natural resources all year long, with a major contribution by acorns in the winter months, just prior to slaughter; a method known as “Montanera2”
The increased consumer demand for the high quality pork products derived from the “Iberian” swine breed has resulted in an ever-increasing production, decoupled from natural cycles or from a matching increase in available natural resources
Orden PRE/3844/2004 describes gas chromatography of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) as the official method to differentiate among classes, together with the sampling and sub-sampling protocols to be used, and the accepted fat extraction and methylation techniques
Summary
Quality and perceived health benefits result in a high demand for both green and mature pork products derived from the Iberian bred swine. These characteristics are directly related to diet and breeding style (free ranging in a particular Mediterranean ecosystem: the Dehesa). Given that current demand is not matched by the available resources, animal feed is increasingly used. GC-C-IRMS analysis of Palmitic, Stearic, Oleic and Linoleic Acid methyl esters allows for differentiating between pork raised in the traditional way and that fattened on animal feed. A value of d13CC18:1 = –25.9‰ is a good discriminator, exploratory analysis of principal canonical components is required to properly assign any unknown sample.
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