Better food quality

Optimum vitamin nutrition of farm animals directly affects the quality of food of animal origin. Lipid oxidation, for example, is a problem in meat conservation -it can produce undesirable smells and flavours associated with rancidification> This is very relevant in processed meat which is particularly susceptible to the oxidation process.

Feeding animals a diet rich in unsaturated vegetable fats can considerably increase levels of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats in meat. A series of polyunsaturated fatty acids exists which react with molecular oxygen until they are finally degraded into undesirable compounds with short chains which cause a deterioration of the meat's organoleptic characteristics.

Feeding animals on diets with high levels of vitamin E can counteract this effect and thus improve the final quality of the meat:

• by protecting the meat's lipids from oxidation and reducing the formation of undesirable smells and flavours,

• by reducing the loss of exudates and improving the texture of the meat.