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Arouquesa PDO veal is a high-quality product that albeit available in small amounts, needs to increase its outputs to increase consumption and economic value. This work aimed to compare the fatty acid (FA) composition of Arouquesa veal produced under different systems. These include a traditional system (TF), a TF with a starter supplement (TF+S1) where animals were weaned and slaughtered at 9-months, a system in which animals were weaned at 5-months and fed a growth supplement until slaughter at 9-months (S1+S2), and two rearing systems with supplementation during finishing (TF+S3 and S3). The FA composition of three different muscles was analyzed. The new production systems affected the veal FA composition when compared with the TF. Both TF and TF+S1 groups had higher proportions of n-3 polyunsaturated FA (PUFA), t 11–18:1 and c 9, t 11–18:2, with the TF group reaching 3.49 %, 0.93 % and 0.51 % of total FA in Longissimus thoracis . The supplemented groups showed higher proportions of n-6 PUFA, with the TF+S3 group reaching 19.4 %, 20.0 % and 21.2 % of total FA in Longissimus thoracis , Semitendinosus and Infraspinatus muscles, respectively. In conclusion, it is necessary to be aware that the introduction of these novel systems affects the lipid nutritional value of the PDO product.
Sacarrão-Birrento et al. (Fri,) studied this question.