abstract
This study compared fat and fatty acids in cooked retail chicken meat from conventional and organic systems.
Fat contents were 1.7, 5.2, 7.1 and 12.9 g/100 g cooked weight in skinless breast, breast with skin,
skinless leg and leg with skin respectively, with organic meat containing less fat overall (P < 0.01). Meat
was rich in cis-monounsaturated fatty acids, although organic meat contained less than did conventional
meat (1850 vs. 2538 mg/100 g; P < 0.001). Organic meat was also lower (P < 0.001) in 18:3 n3 (115 vs.
180 mg/100 g) and, whilst it contained more (P < 0.001) docosahexaenoic acid (30.9 vs. 13.7 mg/100 g),
this was due to the large effect of one supermarket. This system by supermarket interaction suggests that
poultry meat labelled as organic is not a guarantee of higher long chain n3 fatty acids. Overall there
were few major differences in fatty acid contents/profiles between organic and conventional meat that
were consistent across all supermarkets.