RESUMO
Sixteen Nero Siciliano pigs were used to investigate the effect of dietary tomato processing waste on meat quality. During 86â¯days one group (CON, nâ¯=â¯8) received a pelleted conventional diet, while another group (TOM, nâ¯=â¯8) received the same diet in which tomato waste replaced 15% of corn. The dietary treatment did not affect growth performances. The TOM diet reduced intramuscular fat, SFA and MUFA content, while increasing the n-6:n-3 ratio in meat (Pâ¯<â¯.05). The TOM diet increased the concentration of PUFA, PUFA n-3, PUFA n-6 and the n-6:n-3 ratio (Pâ¯<â¯.01). The instrumental colour descriptors of backfat were unaffected by diet. The TOM diet increased deposition of retinol in meat (Pâ¯<â¯.001) but did not affect oxidative stability parameters measured in fresh meat and meat homogenates with pro-oxidant catalysts. Concluding, tomato pomace fed to pigs at higher levels compared to previous reports had no adverse effects on the investigated meat quality traits.
