Meat quality from pigs fed tomato processing waste

Sixteen Nero Siciliano pigs were used to investigate the effect of dietary tomato processing waste on meat quality. During 86 days one group (CON, n = 8) received a pelleted conventional diet, while another group (TOM, n = 8) received the same diet in which tomato waste replaced 15% of corn. The dietary treatment did not affect growth performances. The TOM diet reduced intramuscular fat, SFA and MUFA content, while increasing the n-6:n-3 ratio in meat (P < .05). The TOM diet increased the concentration of PUFA, PUFA n-3, PUFA n-6 and the n-6:n-3 ratio (P < .01). The instrumental colour descriptors of backfat were unaffected by diet. The TOM diet increased deposition of retinol in meat (P < .001) but did not affect oxidative stability parameters measured in fresh meat and meat homogenates with pro-oxidant catalysts. Concluding, tomato pomace fed to pigs at higher levels compared to previous reports had no adverse effects on the investigated meat quality traits.