4.4. Retail display colour of meat
Many studies have reported that elevated concentrations of unsaturated fatty acids can affect the appearance of meat under retail display,
due to interaction between increased lipid and colour oxidation (e.g.
Nute et al., 2007). The antioxidant potential of live animal, oxidative capacity of animal tissues in vivo, and free radical formation associated
with oxidative process of meat post farm gate (in vitro) in relation to
colour, lipid oxidation, and nutritional value of meat are critical areas affecting consumer attraction, health claims and the sale of meat. In the
current study, with a two fold increase in EPA + DHA in the muscles
of Algae and FlaxAlgae group lambs, one would have expected a significant change in retail colour stability between treatments. The results
however indicated that this was not the case for retail colour evaluated
either for a full 4 days of simulated retail display, as examined by interaction of Flax × Algae × Time or for individual days as examined by interaction of Flax × Algae. Our results confirm the recent findings of
Hopkins et al. (2014) that retail colour was not affected when
EPA + DHA was elevated in muscle LL with feeding similar type of
algae supplemented in a concentrate grain diet. Najafi et al. (2012)
have shown that a substantial increase in long-chain n−3 fatty acid
concentrations in meat did not affect the sensory properties or other
meat quality aspects such as colour of meat in goats. The measurement
of TBARS from blood, liver and muscle as an assessment of lipid oxidation (TBARS) indicated that the increase in n−3 fatty acid as ALA did
not increase lipid oxidation, rather significantly reduced the TBARS
levels in goats fed canola oil (Karami, Ponnampalam, & Hopkins, 2013).