CRAWFORD ET AL.: FLAVOR OF TURKEY 



Table 2. — Taste panel scores (rank) on breast and thigh meat 

 and skin of turkeys fed to 6 wk of age diets containing varjdng 

 levels of safflower oil, linseed oil, and tuna fish oil with and 

 without ethoxyquin. 



'All groups of turkeys were fed a basal diet plus an oil supplement for 6 

 wk. Group 1 = 4'y safflower oil (SO), Group 2 = (same as 1)  125 ppm 

 ethoxyquin (EMQ), Group 3 = Vi SO * 3'> linseed oil (LO). Group 4 = 

 (same as 3) ^ 125 ppm EMQ, Group 5 = 3.5'; SO ~ 0.5'f tuna oil (TO), 

 Group 6 = (same as 5) * 1 25 ppm EMQ, Group 7 = 3"^'; SO + V'i TO, Group 

 8 = (same as 7) ~ 125 ppm EMQ 



^Rank 1 = least off odor or off flavor. 



^F = number of fishiness comments. 



iment (Miller and Robish, 1969; Dreosti, 1970; 

 Opstvedt, Nygard, and Olsen, 1970). 



Some suggestions may be offered as to why no 

 clear fishy flavors were induced, even though 

 there was uptake of linolenates in the turkey car- 

 cass. For example, the use of safflower oil to 

 achieve lipid isocaloric balance may have de- 

 pressed the uptake of linolenates. Edwards and 

 May (1965) observed this effect when they fed 

 mixtures of corn and menhaden oil. Certainly the 

 metabolism of the young birds (in this experiment 

 6 wk of age) must be considered. Their cell turn- 

 over is considerably higher than that of adult 

 birds; phospholipid (an integral part of cell mem- 

 branes) turnover is proportional to mitotic rate, 

 and long-chained fatty acids are more readily 

 found in phospholipids. 



Experiment II 



As before, all turkeys appeared to be in good 

 nutritional health. The mean dressed weight was 

 1,377 g for turkeys fed to 8 wk of age. 



Table 3 shows the results of fatty acid (methyl 

 esters) determination by GLC of lipids extracted 

 from the breast of turkeys fed fish oil and safflower 

 oil to 8 wk of age. The fatty acids C20:5a;3 and 



Table 3. — Methyl ester fatty acid composition of tuna oil and lipids extracted from the breast of 

 turkeys' fed to 8 wk of age diets containing varying levels of tuna oil and beef fat or safflower oil 

 with and without vitamin E idl-a -tocopherol acetate) supplementation. 



'All groups of turkey were fed a basal diet plus an oil supplement for 8 wk. Group 1 = 4% beef fat (BF), Group 

 2 = 3.5'7f BF + 0.5^ tuna oil (TO), Group 3 = 3^7, BF + ^9c TO, Group 4 = (same as 3) + 200 mg/kg vitamin E, 

 Group 5 = ?7r BF + 27f TO, Group 6 = (same as 5) + 200 mg/kg vitamin E, Group 7 = 3<7f safflower oil (SO) + 

 ^9c TO, Group a = 29c SO + 2Vc TO, 



1035 



