Cholesterol content and fatty acid composition of rhea meat.

The influence of species and muscle on the intramuscular fat content, cholesterol content and fatty acid composition of Greater and Lesser Rhea meat were evaluated. Muscle has no influence (P>0.05) on any of these characteristics. Neither intramuscular fat (1.23%) nor cholesterol content (57 mg/100 g) differed (P>0.05) between species. Despite differences (P<0.05) in the percentage of individual fatty acids, total saturated fatty acids (33.1%) did not differ (P>0.05) between species, while total monounsaturated fatty acids (26.8 vs 32.2%) was lower (P<0.05) and total polyunsaturated fatty acids (39.7 vs 33.6%) higher (P<0.05) for Greater than Lesser Rhea.