The present study was carried out to evaluate the nutritional quality of rabbit meat protein. The composition of amino acids contained in rabbit meat was compared with those of other animal meats such as beef, pork and chicken. Also included in this study was the question whether the cooking and storage conditions affect the amino acid composition and the pepsin-digestibility of rabbit meat protein.
r The results are summarized as follows:
1. The large variation observed from sample to sample of EAA (essential amino acid) composition in rabbit meat was found to be an interesting but peculiar property of rabbit meat protein. The most limiting amino acid of rabbit meat protein was phenylalanine, whereas methionine was the first limiting amino acid of both beef and pork proteins. Chemical scores of various meat proteins were 68, 65, 66, and 74 for rabbit meat, beef, pork, and chicken respectively.
2. In pan roasting, the EAA damaged most by heat was methionine (15,06). When cooked after two months of frozen storage, lysine decreased most.
3. Higher pepsin digestibility was obtained by cooking rabbit meat after seasoned in alcohol, ginger juice, and other spices compared with various other cooking conditions without seasoning. The pepsin digestibility value was even higher for the seasoned meat than for the raw meat.
4. Among various meats tested the rabbit meat showed the lowest pepsin digestibility.
5. A simple measurement of released methionine could be used to determine relative digestibility instead of measuring NH2N content after pepsin digestion.
From all the results obtained in this study it can.be concluded that rabbit meat is a good protein food item when used fresh and stored properly to prevent rancidity problems. It is suggested to study further the peroxidation effect of unsaturated fatty acids on protein quality.
This study was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology in Korea.
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