Comparative Study of Nutritional Compositions and Technological Quality between Horse meat and Korean Native Black Pork Raising in Jeju Island.

Objective: The present study aimed at comparing the nutritional compositions and color traits between two meat types: Horse meat and pork from Korean native black pigs raised in Jeju Island.

Methods: After slaughter 24h, the longissimus dorsi samples were taken from left side carcasses of the 32-mo-old Jeju female breed horses and the 6-mo-old Korean native black pigs (n=10 each). The samples were then placed into cool boxes containing ice packs and transported to the Laboratory of Meat Science where they were trimmed off all visual fats and connective tissues and then were ground. All the samples were analyzed for the nutritional compositions (proximate composition, minerals, vitamins, fatty acids and amino acids) and color traits.

Results: The horse meat contained significantly higher collagen, moisture and protein than the pork (p<0.05). The Jeju horse meat showed more desirable fatty acid profiles such as containing significantly lower saturated fatty acids (SFA), higher polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) contents and PUFA/SFA ratios than the pork (p<0.05). Differences in concentrations of ten amino acids existed between the two meat types in which the horse meat had higher values for all these amino acids, total amino acids (20.33 g/100g) and essential amino acids (10.06 g/100g) than the pork (p<0.05). Also, the horse meat showed significantly higher concentrations of Fe (34.21 mg/100g) and Cu (2.47 mg/100g) than the pork (Fe: 17.42 mg/100g and Cu: 1.51 mg/100g) (p<0.05). All the vitamins detected showed statistical differences between the two meat types in which the horse meat had higher concentrations of vitamin B1 (25.19 mg/100g), B2 (92.32 mg/100g), B3 (2115.51 mg/100g) and B5 (67.13 mg/100g) than the pork (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Based on the obtained results, it is concluded that the two meat types studied are rich in nutrients and the animal species strongly affected.