SAMPLE PREPARATION AND STORAGE EFFECTS ON FATTY ACID PROFILE OF RABBIT LONGISSIMUS THORACIS ET LUMBORUM MUSCLE

Twenty-five Pannon White male rabbits reared and fed in similar conditions were slaughtered at 11 weeks of age. The longissimus thoracis et lumborum muscles (LTL; right and left) were removed at 24 h post-mortem and allocated to four sampling/storage treatments: the left side of LTL muscle was divided in half perpendicularly, with the posterior portion being analysed within one day (fresh), and the anterior portion vacuum packaged and stored for 1 mo at -20 degrees C (whole-frozen); the right LTL side was ground with half of the product vacuum packaged and frozen for 1 mo at -20 degrees C (ground-frozen), whereas the other half was freeze-dried, vacuum packaged, and stored for 1 mo at 4 degrees C (freeze-dried refrigerated). Treatments impacted percentages of total saturated (P<0.01), monounsaturated (P<0.05), and polyunsaturated fatty acids (P