Fatty Acid Content and Composition of English Beef, Lamb and Pork at Retail

We have determined the fatty acid content and composition of retail samples of meat and assessed them with respect to UK dietary recommendations. Fifty beef sirloin steaks, pork chops and lamb chops were purchased from four supermarkets on separate occasions. The percentage of muscle (boneless basis) in the samples was 84.4 ± 4.3, 69.8 ± 7.7 and 78.9 ± 7.1 for beef, lamb and pork, respectively, with fatty acid contents of 3.84 ± 1.3, 4.73 ± 1.66 and 2.26 ± 0.7 g per 100 g muscle, respectively. Adipose tissue fatty acid contents were 70.0 ± 8.2, 70.6 ± 8.6 and 65.3 ± 9.4 g per 100 g tissue. A range of C20 and C22 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) was present in the muscle of all three species and pork adipose tissue but their concentrations in lamb and beef adipose tissue were too low to measure. The mean P:S ratios for beef, lamb and pork muscle were (adipose tissue values in parentheses): 0.11 (0.05); 0.15 (0.09) and 0.58 (0.61), and the n-6:n-3 ratios were 2.1 (2.3), 1.3 (1.4) and 7.2 (7.6). We conclude that the muscles of red meat species are a valuable source of PUFA, particularly the C20 and C22 n-3 fatty acids, in the human diet and that, considered as part of a varied diet, the low P:S ratio of the ruminant muscle, the high n-6:n-3 ratio of pork and the total fatty acid contents do not detract significantly from the nutritional value of lean meat.