The effect of cooking on the fatty acid composition of longissimus muscle from beef heifers fed rations designed to increase the concentration of conjugated linoleic acid in tissue

Longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle from 60 Charolais crossbred heifers, aged for 14 days was used to investigate the effect of cooking on the content of PUFA and CLA fatty acids. Animals were offered a control diet of grass silage and concentrates (CO) or rations designed to enhance the concentration of CLA in tissue, i.e. unsupplemented grazed pasture (G), sunflower-oil supplemented grazing (SFG) or linseed-oil oil supplemented grazing (LSG). The SFG diet was the most effective for increasing the concentration of CLA but also caused the highest n−6/n−3 fatty acid ratio. There were no changes in the relative distribution of fatty acids upon cooking (140 °C for 30 min) and this procedure can be recommended because it preserves the nutritional value of the meat. It is concluded that irrespective of the change in the fatty acid composition of LD due to alteration in the diet of the cattle, cooking did not cause thermal degradation of PUFA, or thermal degradation or oxidative synthesis of CLA.