Potential use of near-infrared spectroscopy to predict fatty acid profile of meat from different European autochthonous pig breeds

Autochthonous pig breeds provide products of differentiated quality, among which quality control is difficult to perform and insufficient for current market requirements. The present research evaluates the predictive ability of near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy, combined with chemometric methods as a rapid and affordable tool to assure traceability and quality control. Thus, NIR technology was assessed for intact and minced muscle Longissimus thoracis et lumborum samples collected from 12 European autochthonous pig breeds for the quantification of lipid content and fatty acid composition. Different tests were performed using different numbers of samples for calibration and validation. The best predictive ability was found using minced presentation and set with 80% of the samples for the calibration and the remaining 20% for the external validation test for the following traits: lipid content and saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, which attained both the highest determination coefficients (0.89, 0.61, and 0.65, respectively) and the lowest root mean square errors in external validation (0.62, 1.82, and 1.36, respectively). Lower predictive ability was observed for intact muscles. These results could contribute to improve the management of autochthonous breeds and to ensure quality of their products by traditional meat industry chains.