ABSTRACT
Poultry, especially chicken broilers and turkey, is one of the most widely consumed muscle foods in the world. It is an important source of dietary energy and nutrients, such as high quality proteins, essential fatty acids, vitamins and highly bio-available minerals [1]. In south-east and east Asia, as well as in eastern and western Europe, ducks and geese also play an important role because of their tasty meat. The world consumption of poultry meat in the year 2001 exceeded 69 949 thousand tons, ranked between production of beef and veal (56 647 thousand tons) and pig meat (91 188 thousand tons) [2]. The increase in muscle proportion and the reduction in carcass fat content by selection and careful restriction are major attempts to improve carcass quality of poultry and the nutritional value of meat [3-7]. However, concern has been raised over its high consumption and the fat content, in particular saturated fatty acids, which can greatly increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases and some type of cancer [8,9].
