| Abstract: | Fish meals extracted with ethanol, benzene and/or warm water or acidified water were included in diets for broilers at 20 % levels, while in some instances certain amines, phospholipids from the fish oil extracted from fish meal (here called “residual” fish oil) and triglycerides from such fish oil were added to broiler diets singly or in different combinations. The experimental diets were given to broilertype chickens from their fifth week until they were slaughtered when 81/2 weeks old. Carcasses from the different treatment groups were subjected to organoleptic evaluation and the fatty acid make-up of the fat in the carcasses and of the oils in the fish meals, determined by gas chromatography. Carcasses of chickens which received diets containing fish meal extracted with the fat solvents consistently had a chicken flavour. When the diets contained fish meal extracted with warm water or a warm, weak, acid solution the carcasses had a neutral flavour. Unextracted fish meal and the triglyceride fraction of fish oil (at a 2.0 % level) in the diet invariably produced carcasses with a “fishy” taint. The phospholipid fraction of “residual” fish oil had no effect on carcass flavour while additional amines (trimethylamine, ethanolamine and choline) in the diet in most instances aggravated the foreign taint. The high correlation between flavour score and the levels of certain highly unsaturated fatty acids in the chicken carcasses was confirmed. |
