Abstract

VANEGAS AZUERO, Ana Milena  and  GUTIERREZ, Luis Felipe. Horse meat: production, consumption and nutritional value. Ces. Med. Vet. Zootec. [online]. 2016, vol.11, n.3, pp.86-103. ISSN 1900-9607.

Meat is one of the major sources of nutrients in human food, for its contribution of high-biological value protein. Recently, there has been an interest in meats from alternative sources, other than bovine, swine and poultry. This article analyzes the main features of the production and consumption of horse-meat, and presents its composition and nutritional value, in order to increase awareness of producers and consumers on this potential source of red meat. The equine species supplies 0.25% of the world meat production. The main producers of horse-meat are China, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Russia and Argentina, while Mongolia, Switzerland, Italy, Kazakhstan and Russia are the largest consumers. Horse-meat contains significant amounts of mono and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Moreover, it is a valuable source of minerals (mainly iron, phosphorus, zinc, magnesium and copper) and essential (lysine, leucine and arginine) and no essential amino acids (glutamic acid, aspartic acid and alanine). These nutritional characteristics make horse-meat an interesting protein source for human consumption. However, due to cultural and social reasons, and because of the mistrust generated by the illegal practices in the slaughter and marketing activities, its consumption has been questioned in many countries. Therefore, it is necessary to implement strategies allowing the standardization of the productive chain of this type of meat, in order to obtain a food product with the quality standards required by the market and consumers.

Keywords : aminoacids; essential fatty acids; horse meat; protein.

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