A comprehensive evaluation of lipid profiles and nutritional quality in different animal source muscle tissues

Lipid composition is crucial for assessing the nutrition and flavor of animal-derived raw materials, a key concern for consumers. Based on high-resolution mass spectrometry and chemical pattern recognition, the intermuscular lipids fingerprint of seven types of livestock, poultry, and fish muscle were analyzed. In total, 704 lipids were detected, containing fourteen lipid molecules, with significant content differences among samples, notably triglycerides, phosphatidylcholines, phosphatidylethanolamines, diglycerides, and fatty acids. Livestock and poultry muscle had a low content of lipids with an unsaturation degree above 4 (around 10% and 25%). These unsaturated lipid molecules in fish muscle ranged from approximately 60%–75%. Rainbow trout had higher contents of triglycerides and phosphatidylcholines with chain lengths exceeding 13. Mutton had more of these lipids within the 13–18 chain length, exceeding 0.3 g/(g·protein), which may be crucial for their unique texture and flavor. The results will help the deep processing and nutritional assessment of muscle foods.