Hunting area affects chemical and physical characteristics and fatty acid composition of wild boar (Sus scrofa) meat

Wild boar (Sus scrofa) populations have increased in the last few decades throughout Europe, and this trend will probably continue in the coming decade. The hunting of S. scrofa will increase the availability of meat for both home consumption and market. The aim of the present paper is to investigate how different geo-graphical hunting areas influence chemical composition, quality traits, fatty acid composition and lipid quality indexes of wild boar meat. The geographical hunting area influenced the cooking loss percentage (P < 0.05), dry matter and protein content (P < 0.05). The major fatty acids in Longissimus thoracis muscle of wild boar are oleic (18:1cis-9), linoleic (18:2n-6), palmitic (16:0) and stearic (18:0) acids. Palmitic and stearic acids comprise 20.46 and 14.7 % of the total fatty acids, respectively, in all experimental groups. The polyunsaturated alpha-linolenic (C18:3n-3; P < 0.001) content as well as the long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid content was affected by the hunting area. The geographical hunting area did not affect the pH value at 72 h, the thawing loss or the lipid quality indexes, such as the atherogenic and thrombogenic indexes.