Fatty acid profile, meat quality and flavour acceptability of beef from double-muscled Piemontese young bulls fed ground flaxseed

This study was designed to assess the effects of dietary flaxseed on the proximate composition, fatty acid profile, lipid oxidation, colour and flavour of the longissimus thoracis muscle of double-muscled Piemontese young bulls. Compared to a control diet, the flaxseed diet had no significant effect on the moisture, protein or ether extract content. Flaxseed modified the fatty acid composition of beef. A more than doubled n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) content (from 21.1 to 46.7 g/kg of total fatty acids – TFA – in control and flaxseed beef, respectively; p