Lipids, health lipid indices and cholesterol content of three sheep meats from Moroccan pastures

The lipid analysis of commercial lamb's meat, from two main Moroccan production areas "middle Atlas" and "Highlands", was studied. This study concerns the lipid quality of sheep meat from Beni-Guil (BG) and Timahdite (T) as indigenous breeds, labeled PGI* and that of the Ouled-Djellal (ODj) breed of Algerian origin, and represents the main competitor of BG breed in highlands of eastern Morocco. Fatty acid profiles of analyzed sheep meats show: (i) PUFA* richness, which varies between 16.77% for meat of BG breed and 22.23% for meat of T breed, (ii) PUFA/SFA* ratios ranging from 0.39 for meat of BG breed to 0.58 for meat of T breed (iii) n-3 PUFA content which varies between a minimum of 2.52 % for ODj breed and a maximum of 7.48 % for T breed, thus, the n-6 PUFA/n-3 PUFA ratios range between 3.2 for meat of BG breed and 5.18 for meat of ODj breed.