[The distinctive characteristics of the nutrient composition of reindeer meat from the Vorkuta district determined by the conditions of the region of origin]

Abstract

Reindeer meat is an important source of crucial nutrients (protein, fat, minerals) in nutrition of Arctic indigenous people. The authentic meat properties are formed under the influence of many factors, the main of which are the lifetime factors including the region of production and peculiarities of keeping. The regional peculiarities of the reindeer meat composition are quite poorly reflected in the reference books on the chemical composition of food products and in the scientific publications. The aim of the work was to evaluate nutritional value, the level of amino acids, fatty acids, minerals and trace elements of reindeer meat from the Vorkuta district. Material and methods. The objects of the research were the samples of reindeer meat (m. longissimus dorsi) from the Vorkuta district obtained from the highly productive semi-domesticated young reindeers of the Nenets breed. The samples were taken from free-ranging male animals at the age of 8-10 month. The amino acid composition was analyzed by the chromatographic method, the mass fraction of tryptophan by the spectrofluorometrically method, oxyproline by the spectrophotometric method. The content of minerals and trace elements was detected by the flame atomic absorption method. The lipid extraction from the average sample was carried out by the extraction with chloroform/ methanol by the Folch method, the purity of the extracted lipids was controlled by the method of thin layer chromatography. The fatty acid composition was determined the gas chromatographic method. Results and discussions. The indicators of the chemical composition of reindeer meat from the Vorkuta district were established. The content of protein was 23.0%, the content of fat 1.2%. The high content of tryptophan (0.628 g/100 g of the product) was characteristic for this prodact. The ratio of tryptophan to oxyproline was 11.8, which exceeded the values in pork and chicken. The low level of polyunsaturated fatty acids (17.8% of total lipids), in particular linoleic acid (6.9%), was assigned to the special features of the composition of meat under investigation. With that, quite high content of saturated fatty acids (48.6% of total lipids) was observed, which explained increased meat stability to oxidative spoilage during long-term storage and processing. The content of calcium in the reindeer meat from the Vorkuta district was 72.25 mg/kg, potassium - 33.3 g/kg, magnesium - 310.25 mg/kg, iron - 55.54 mg/kg, zinc - 41.89 mg/kg, copper - 4.0 mg/kg. The level of iron, magnesium and copper in this type of meat was significantly higher than the data on reindeer meat presented in the reference literature. Conclusion. The obtained data on the chemical composition of reindeer meat from the Vorkuta district can be a basis for the development of the indicators of its authenticity and in the future can be used for identification in case of the need to confirm species and a region of origin of meat, as well as for solving tasks of formation and promotion of regional brands.

Keywords: amino acid composition; fatty acids; meat; minerals; nutritional value; reindeer; trace elements.