Effect of diet on the fatty acid composition of intramuscular and intermuscular fat in Iberian pig cured hams

pig cured hams was determined. Animals were fed with diets of pasture and acorns (acorns and cereals (or cereals (The major fatty acids from the total and apolar lipid fraction of Iberian pig cured ham muscular tissue were C (45-54%), C (22-26%) and C (10-13%). The same fatty acids were the major components in the total and apolar lipids from intermuscular fat of Iberian pig cured hams, with values ranging from 44 to 53% for C from 21 to 27% for C and from 10 to 14% for CIn the total lipid fraction from intramus- cular fat significant differences (0.05) were found between all three batches in the composi- tion of C and Cand between montanera and the other two batches in the fatty acids C and CFor intermuscular fat, significant differences (0.05) were observed between all three batches for the fatty acids CCCC and CAlthough significant differences in the composition of some fatty acids of the total lipid fraction from intra- and intermuscular fat were due to the feeding system, a 100% partition among the three different diets was not obtained when stepwise discriminant analysis was applied. The results were not improved when the apolar lipid fraction was analysed.