Chemical composition and fatty acid profile of meat from Brahman-grade cattle (Bos indicus) and crossbred carabao (Bubalus bubalis Linn.

Despite previous findings indicating that sensory characteristics of carabao meat (carabeef) do not differ significantly from those of beef, carabao meat remains less popular among Filipino consumers. Thus, Oliveros et al. (UPLB and PCC at UPLB) in 2005 established a definite comparison between beef and carabao meat in terms of proximate composition and intramuscular fatty acid profile. Cattle and carabaos (30 months old) that were subjected to the same management practices and fed roughages and concentrates for 6 months were slaughtered. The meats were chilled fro 48 hours. Samples of loin from the left 9th-12th ribs and the Longissimus dorsi muscles were used. Proximate composition of the lean samples, intramuscular fatty acid composition, and iodine number of the extracted intramuscular fats were determined. Findings of the study revealed the following: The moisture, crude protein, and crude fat contents of beef and carabeef were not significantly different, while ash content of carabeef was significantly higher than that of beef. The principal fatty acids identified in beef and carabeef were palmitic, stearic and oleic. Carabeef had higher oleic acid content than beef (43.80 percent vs. 37.25 percent). This was carabeef's advantage over beef. Beef had significantly higher linoleic acid content (0.59 percent) than carabeef (0.25 percent). However, the linoleic acid contents of beef (1.78 percent) and carabeef (1.89 percent) did not differ significantly. The ratio of linoleic acid (C18:2) to linolenic acid (C18:3) of beef was significantly lower than that of carabeef (3.01 vs 7.60). This was an advantage of beef over carabeef. The proportion of saturate4d fatty acid in carabeef was lower than that in beef but the difference was not significant. In contrast, the proportion of unsaturated fatty acid in carabeef was significantly higher than that in beef. This was attributed to the high eleic acid content of carabeef. Beef and carabeef had 31.82 g iodine/ 100 g fat and 33.36 g iodine/100 g fat, respectively. The iodine number obtained indicated that fats from beef and carabeef and more mono-unsaturated and saturated than polyunsaturated fatty acids. Results implied that although there were significant differences in the proportion of some individual fatty acid component of beef and carabeef, their general fatty acid profiles were not entirely different. The study showed that carabeef was as good as beef in terms of proximate and fatty acid composition.