Physicochemical properties of perirenal and omental fat from suckling lamb carcasses evaluated according to the type of milk source

Sheep dairy production is a fairly common practice in Europe’s Mediterranean region and suckling lamb meat is regarded as having high edible quality. Suckling lambs tend to be reared either with ewe’s milk or milk replacer. Only the former system is allowed in several quality labels; invoked arguments for this fact are related to preservation of high meat quality standards. In this work, the effect of suckling system on several physicochemical properties, i.e. fatty acid composition, melting point, refractive index, iodine value, saponification index, and moisture and collagen content of perirenal and omental fat from suckling lamb carcasses, have been investigated. Milk source had a significant effect in most of the individual fatty acid contents, melting point, refractive index, iodine value, moisture and collagen content of perirenal and omental fat from Churra suckling lambs. Both fat depots showed similar properties for each rearing system, except for a few fatty acids, moisture and collagen content. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.