Effect of Flax Seeds and Dried Herbs or Fruits on the Dietary Value and Shelf Life of Raw and Aged Meat*

Magdalena Szyndler-Nędza; Małgorzata Świątkiewicz; Grzegorz Żak; Mirosław Tyra; Aurelia Mucha; Martyna Małopolska; Dariusz Lisiak; Karolina Szulc; Ewa Skrzypczak

doi:10.2478/aoas-2025-0096

Effect of Flax Seeds and Dried Herbs or Fruits on the Dietary Value and Shelf Life of Raw and Aged Meat*

Volume 26 (2026): Issue 2 (April 2026)

By: Magdalena Szyndler-Nędza, Małgorzata Świątkiewicz, Grzegorz Żak, Mirosław Tyra, Aurelia Mucha, Martyna Małopolska, Dariusz Lisiak, Karolina Szulc and Ewa Skrzypczak

Open Access

|Apr 2026

Figures & Tables

Table 1.

Distribution of sex and RYR1 genotypes in each experimental group and final average slaughter weight of animals

		A	H	H+	F	F+
N		10	10	10	10	10
Sex (no.)	barrows	5	6	5	5	4
Sex (no.)	gilts	5	4	5	5	6
RYR (no.)	NN	6	5	5	4	5
	Nn	4	5	5	6	3
	nn	–	–	–	–	2
Body weight at slaughter (kg)		136.4	139.9	136.3	138.1	139.95
Weight of right half-carcass (kg)		52.3	54.1	52.3	53.3	54.1

Percentage of reaction inhibition (%), i.e. the ability of the tested herbs and fruits dried raw materials to counteract the oxidation reaction with increasing sample concentration in DPPH test

Table 2.

Basic nutrient and bioactive components in raw dried herb and fruit materials

Item	Rosemary	Thyme	Sage	Hop	Caraway seeds	Rosa canina	Sea buckthorn	Elderberry	Rowanberry
Nutrient contents
dry matter (%)	91.29	91.81	91.60	93.78	89.95	90.61	92.85	90.73	89.62
crude protein (%)	6.02	15.17	15.74	22.87	21.37	4.95	11.79	10.36	4.38
crude fat (%)	5.39	2.52	4.23	13.82	4.27	3.86	17.18	14.00	2.39
crude fiber (%)	19.82	15.26	20.38	18.49	28.34	36.75	9.64	18.29	7.62
crude ash (%)	4.93	11.87	11.03	5.73	4.75	4.18	3.37	4.40	2.91
Polyphenol contents
content of total hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives expressed as rosmarinic acid (%)	6.50	4.76	3.54	–	0.86	–	–	–	–
polyphenol content expressed as pyrogallol (%)	–	–	–	0.65	–	2.67	0.94	0.58	0.23
essential oil content (ml/kg)	–	–	–	–	32.5	–	–	–	–

Table 3.

Formula, nutrient contents and fatty acids profile (g per 100 g of all estimated fatty acids) of the experimental finisher diets (90–140 kg body weight)

Item	Experimental group
Item	A	H	H+	F	F+
Components (%)
wheat	13.0	13.0	13.0	13.0	13.0
barley	39.58	37.58	36.56	37.58	36.56
triticale	13.0	13.0	13.0	13.0	13.0
rye	10.0	10.0	10.0	10.0	10.0
rapeseed press cake	8.0	8.0	6.0	8.0	6.0
low-tannin faba bean	14.0	14.0	14.0	14.0	14.0
monocalcium phosphate	0.22	0.22	0.22	0.22	0.22
ground limestone	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.3
salt	0.22	0.22	0.22	0.22	0.22
L-Lysine	0.18	0.18	0.2	0.18	0.2
mineral-vitamin premix	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5
dried herbs (H) or fruits (F)	–	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
flax seeds	–	–	3.0	–	3.0
In 1 kg of feed mixture
dry matter (%)	880	881	880	881	881
crude protein (%)	147	147	147	146	146
crude fat (%)	26	27	37	27	38
crude fiber (%)	48	51	51	52	53
crude ash (%)	49	50	49	49	49
metabolizable energy (MJ)^*	12.9	12.8	13.0	12.8	13.0
Lys (g)	8.30	8.35	8.40	8.31	8.39
Met + Cys (g)	5.13	5.12	5.10	5.11	5.09
Tre (g)	4.73	4.77	4.70	4.73	4.69
Trp (g)	1.98	1.99	1.99	1.98	1.98
Ca (g)	6.25	6.24	6.20	6.23	6.21
P digestible (g)	2.04	2.01	2.00	2.01	2.02
Fatty acids profile
C16:0 palmitic	22.62	21.23	13.43	20.13	13.50
C16:1 n-7 palmitoleic	0.40	0.39	0.24	0.77	0.39
C18:0 stearic	1.98	2.10	3.07	2.23	3.11
C18:1 n-9 oleic	24.27	25.95	21.76	26.99	21.56
C18:2 n-6 linoleic	41.63	41.21	27.51	36.74	26.00
C18:3 n-3 alpha-linolenic	7.93	7.81	33.33	12.02	34.82
C20:5 n-3 EPA	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
C22:6 n-3 DHA	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
SFA	25.40	24.20	17.07	23.15	17.15
UFA	74.60	75.80	82.93	76.85	82.85
MUFA	24.82	26.49	22.07	27.88	22.02
PUFA	49.78	49.31	60.86	48.97	60.83
PUFA n-6	41.84	41.49	27.53	36.95	26.01
PUFA n-3	7.93	7.82	33.33	12.02	34.82

* Metabolizable energy was calculated using equation from Hoffmann and Schiemann (1980).

Table 4.

Results of cooking loss. Warner-Bratzler shear force and texture profile analysis (TPA) of longissimus lumborum muscle, semimembranosus muscle and raw matured loin (longissimus lumborum muscle)

	Experimental group
	A	H	H+	F	F+
Longissimus lumborum muscle (LLM)
cooking loss (%)	34.09±2.76	33.21±3.54	32.99±3.93	35.74±3.33	33.51±2.29
shear force (N)	52.72±14.69	53.18±11.84	50.72±9.72	56.00±13.83	49.67±12.32
shear energy (N/sec)	133.01±34.82	136.27±32.93	132.18±27.74	146.67±35.24	119.86±34.34
texture profile TPA
hardness (N)	9.55±3.11	9.80±3.79	9.46±1.83	11.55±3.22	8.94±2.63
springiness	0.70±0.04 a	0.74±0.03 b	0.74±0.02 b	0.73±0.03 b	0.73±0.02 b
cohesiveness	0.68±0.04	0.68±0.04	0.69±0.02	0.69±0.02	0.68±0.02
chewiness	4.62±1.26	5.11±2.50	4.91±0.97	5.95±1.61	4.50±1.38
resilience	0.31±0.02	0.31±0.03	0.31±0.02	0.32±0.02	0.31±0.01
Semimembranosus muscle (SM)
cooking loss (%)	31.93±3.92	33.59±3.14	32.78±3.65	33.28±3.54	33.56±2.63
shear force (N)	53.21±17.67	56.42±18.55	50.98±15.95 b	51.92±21.61 b	73.11±31.98 a
shear energy (N/sec)	138.84±35.68	145.83±38.46	134.16±44.95	143.33±40.74	167.85±70.92
texture profile TPA
hardness (N)	6.64±3.32	7.28±2.08	6.91±3.30	6.98±2.70	6.76±2.14
springiness	0.73±0.03	0.76±0.03	0.75±0.03	0.74±0.06	0.73±0.06
cohesiveness	0.63±0.05	0.66±0.03	0.66±0.05	0.65±0.04	0.63±0.05
chewiness	3.28±1.77	3.72±1.20	3.44±1.64	3.37±1.21	3.08±0.82
resilience	0.28±0.04	0.29±0.03	0.29±0.04	0.28±0.02	0.27±0.02
Raw matured longissimus lumborum muscle (RMLLM)
shear force (N)	56.89±26.36	56.34±20.82	51.65±18.86	56.76±15.43	44.14±17.61
shear energy (N/sec)	137.68±69.07	140.20±53.42	133.55±54.74	139.44±45.76	109.87±49.41

a, b – means in rows with different letters differ significantly at P≤0.05.

Table 5.

Acidity and nutritional value and susceptibility to oxidation of raw loin (longissimus lumborum muscle), ham (semimembranosus muscle) and raw matured loin (raw matured longissimus lumborum muscle) meat from Złotnicka Spotted pigs

	Experimental group
	A	H	H+	F	F+
Longissimus lumborum muscle (LLM)
L*	48.09±4.85	47.8±4.98	50.16±5.09	49.9±6.23	48.36±2.60
a*	19.53±0.89	19.77±1.81	19.88±1.98	20.08±2.20	19.89±1.25
b*	1.88±1.20	2.28±1.48	3.33±1.81	2.94±2.03	2.1±1.71
pH₄₅	6.48±0.03	6.53±0.07	6.52±0.10	6.54±0.07	6.51±0.07
pH₂₄	5.46±0.05 b	5.49±0.06	5.53±0.09 a	5.51±0.07	5.46±0.04 b
protein (%)	23.33±1.18	23.04±0.77	23.27±0.55	23.70±0.66	23.44±0.72
fat (%)	3.54± 1.71 a	3.33±1.34 a	2.76±0.85	2.30±0.45 b	2.28±0.77 b
TBARS (mg/kg)	0.364±0.09	0.354±0.12	0.374±0.10	0.319±0.13	0.379±0.13
Semimembranosus muscle (SM)
pH₄₅	6.36±0.04 b	6.40±0.05	6.40±0.05	6.41±0.04 a	6.40±0.02
pH₂₄	5.59±0.04	5.42±0.05	5.41±0.03	5.41±0.03	5.40±0.03
protein (%)	22.50±0.87	22.71±0.36	22.44±0.71	22.63±0.72	22.81±0.72
fat (%)	2.61±0.85 a	1.76±0.38 b	2.34±1.37 a	1.65±0.26 b	1.58±0.21 b
TBARS (mg/kg)	0.350±0.09	0.322±0.13	0.333±0.07	0.284±0.12	0.338±0.08
Raw matured longissimus lumborum muscle (RRLLM)
protein (%)	31.58±1.24	31.88±1.76	31.58±2.27	32.27±2.12	32.48±2.91
fat (%)	4.17±2.10	5.39±2.24 a	3.03±0.87 b	4.47±2.29	3.23±1.07 b
TBARS (mg/kg)	0.944±0.37 b	1.043±0.34	1.109±0.32	1.138±0.46 a	1.192±0.28 a

a, b – means in rows with different letters differ significantly at P≤0.05.

Table 6.

Profile of selected fatty acids in longissimus lumborum muscle, semimembranosus muscle and raw matured longissimus lumborum muscle (g per 100 g of all estimated fatty acids)

	Experimental group
	A	H	H+	F	F+
Longissimus lumborum muscle (LLM)
C16:0 palmitic	25.519±1.24	25.423±0.88	25.195±0.75	25.125±0.66	24.761±0.87
C16:1 n-7 palmitoleic	3.000±0.59 a	3.142±0.55 a	2.688±0.30	2.711±0.29	2.536±0.32 b
C18:0 stearic	15.463±1.76	14.662±1.14 b	15.434±0.75	15.302±0.67	15.557±0.88 a
C18:1 n-9 oleic	44.981±2.94	45.922±1.91 a	43.991±2.48	44.115±2.11	43.519±3.46 b
C18:2 n-6 linoleic	6.497±2.36	6.440±1.38	7.726±2.11	7.921±1.55	8.298±2.11
C18:3 n-3 alpha-linolenic	0.204±0.04 b	0.258±0.15 b	0.655±0.17 c	0.333±0.09 b	0.852±0.24 a
C20:5 n-3 EPA	0.049±0.04 c	0.057±0.04 c	0.140±0.08 b	0.086±0.04 c	0.199±0.08 a
C22:6 n-3 DHA	0.030±0.02	0.027±0.01 a	0.037±0.02	0.046±0.03 b	0.046±0.02 b
SFA	42.513±2.34	41.523±1.45	42.033±1.19	41.806±1.17	41.689±1.65
UFA	57.487±2.34	58.477±1.45	57.967±1.19	58.194±1.17	58.311±1.65
MUFA	48.869±3.11	49.962±2.28 a	47.506±2.45 b	47.646±2.18 b	46.844±3.50 b
PUFA	8.618±3.53 b	8.515±2.03 b	10.461±3.03	10.549±2.17	11.467±3.08 a
PUFA n-6	8.299±3.44	8.129±1.98	9.527±2.86	10.025±2.09	10.250±2.77
PUFA n-3	0.318±0.09 c	0.385±0.20 c	0.934±0.26 b	0.524±0.15 c	1.217±0.35 a
Semimembranosus muscle (SM)
C16:0 palmitic	24.167±0.91 a	23.452±0.70	23.836±0.89	23.403±0.66 b	23.258±0.94 b
C16:1 n-7 palmitoleic	2.593±0.38 a	2.407±0.50 a	2.286±0.24	2.029±0.25 b	2.050±0.33 b
C18:0 stearic	14.201±1.12 b	14.211±1.14 b	14.762±0.64	14.771±0.36	15.049±0.89 a
C18:1 n-9 oleic	42.446±3.87 a	39.169±3.82 b	40.164±3.16	37.512±2.29 b	38.004±3.02 b
C18:2 n-6 linoleic	10.862±2.90 b	13.942±3.14 ac	12.459±3.08 bc	15.175±1.65 a	14.197±1.86 ac
C18:3 n-3 alpha-linolenic	0.348±0.07 c	0.453±0.27 c	1.001±0.23 b	0.570±0.14 c	1.326±0.36 a
C20:5 n-3 EPA	0.079±0.04 c	0.140±0.10 cd	0.240±0.09 b	0.189±0.08 bd	0.385±0.09 a
C22:6 n-3 DHA	0.040±0.02 b	0.065±0.02 cd	0.058±0.03 bd	0.090±0.04 a	0.083±0.03 ac
SFA	39.782±1.63	38.939±1.39	39.894±1.34	39.409±0.84	39.530±1.57
UFA	60.218±1.63	61.061±1.39	60.106±1.34	60.591±0.84	60.470±1.57
MUFA	45.951±3.91 a	42.432±4.24 bc	43.303±3.27 ab	40.332±2.42 c	40.834±3.20 bc
PUFA	14.267±4.06 c	18.629±4.11 ab	16.803±4.20 bc	20.259±2.13 a	19.636±2.73 ab
PUFA n-6	13.746±3.95 c	17.909±3.95 ab	15.363±4.07 bc	19.323±2.06 a	17.671±2.51ab
PUFA n-3	0.521±0.12 d	0.720±0.41 cd	1.440±0.32 b	0.936±0.23 c	1.965±0.43 a
Raw matured longissimus lumborum muscle (RMLLM)
C16:0 palmitic	25.290±0.98	24.973±0.76	24.875±0.51	24.815±0.60	24.917±0.99
C16:1 n-7 palmitoleic	2.980±0.50 a	3.056±0.44 a	2.738±0.29	2.629±0.33 b	2.519±0.31 b
C18:0 stearic	15.472±1.40	14.982±1.12	15.056±0.79	15.529±0.84	15.784±0.89
C18:1 n-9 oleic	45.177±2.13	45.979±1.69 a	45.154±2.12	43.926±2.94 b	44.300±2.38
C18:2 n-6 linoleic	6.596±2.25 b	6.681±1.14 b	7.413±1.34	8.193±2.31 a	7.572±1.58
C18:3 n-3 alpha-linolenic	0.201±0.03 d	0.287±0.15 cd	0.616±0.14 b	0.417±0.15 c	0.774±0.24 a
C20:5 n-3 EPA	0.048±0.03 c	0.050±0.03 c	0.129±0.05 a	0.091±0.03 b	0.158±0.06 a
C22:6 n-3 DHA	0.031±0.02 bc	0.026±0.01 c	0.040±0.01 ab	0.042±0.02 a	0.039±0.02 ab
SFA	42.224±2.00	41.359±1.41	41.244±0.81	41.706±1.14	42.008±1.74
UFA	57.776±2.00	58.641±1.41	58.756±0.81	58.294±1.14	57.992±1.74
MUFA	49.049±2.26	49.976±2.06 a	48.716±2.13	47.401±3.06 b	47.670±2.40 b
PUFA	8.727±3.22 b	8.666±1.73 b	10.040±1.87	10.893±2.95 a	10.321±2.40
PUFA n-6	8.411±3.14	8.255±1.69 b	9.167±1.73	10.277±2.95 a	9.242±2.06
PUFA n-3	0.316±0.08 c	0.411±0.18 bc	0.873±0.20 a	0.616±0.18 b	1.079±0.33 a

a, b, c – means in rows with different letters differ significantly at P≤0.05.

Table 7.

Dietetic value of meat of longissimus lumborum muscle, semimembranosus muscle and raw matured longissimus lumborum muscle

	Experimental group
	A	H	H+	F	F+
Longissimus lumborum muscle (LLM)
PUFA/SFA	0.205±0.09 b	0.206±0.05 b	0.250±0.08	0.253±0.06	0.275±0.07 a
PUFA n-6/n-3	25.388±4.29 a	23.623±6.73 ab	10.726±3.94 c	19.761±3.46 b	8.512±1.13 c
index AI	0.786±0.08	0.752±0.05	0.764±0.04	0.756±0.04	0.752±0.05
index TI	1.425±0.14 a	1.358±0.08 a	1.323±0.07 b	1.357±0.07 a	1.276±0.09 b
ratio h/H	2.016±0.19 a	2.055±0.12	2.073±0.11	2.088±0.10	2.132±0.14 b
DFA	72.949±1.41 a	73.139±0.98	73.401±0.85	73.496±0.71	73.868±0.97 b
OFA	0.216±0.05	0.224±0.03	0.216±0.03	0.216±0.03	0.203±0.02
Semimembranosus muscle (SM)
PUFA/SFA	0.360±0.11 c	0.479±0.11 ab	0.424±0.12 bc	0.514±0.05 a	0.497±0.07 ab
PUFA n-6/n-3	26.186±3.27 ab	28.252±7.54 a	11.129±4.54 c	21.351±3.61 b	9.232±1.72 c
index AI	0.695±0.05	0.664±0.04	0.694±0.04	0.675±0.02	0.680±0.05
index TI	1.249±0.09 a	1.187±0.07 ab	1.168±0.07 b	1.189±0.04 ab	1.107±0.07 c
ratio h/H	2.248±0.15 b	2.366±0.12	2.292±0.14	2.367±0.10	2.381±0.16 a
DFA	74.420±1.00 b	75.272±0.75 a	74.868±0.97	75.362±0.71 a	75.519±1.01 a
OFA	0.308±0.06	0.341±0.07 a	0.298±0.05	0.307±0.07	0.282±0.04 b
Raw matured longissimus lumborum muscle (RMLLM)
PUFA/SFA	0.209±0.08	0.210±0.04	0.243±0.04	0.261±0.07	0.247±0.06
PUFA n-6/n-3	25.910±3.92 a	21.777±5.16 ac	10.932±3.09 b	17.840±5.91 c	9.380±3.98 b
index AI	0.774±0.07	0.746±0.04	0.738±0.02	0.752±0.04	0.762±0.06
index TI	1.408±0.12 a	1.346±0.07	1.289±0.05 b	1.341±0.06 b	1.308±0.09 b
ratio h/H	2.047±1.17	2.098±0.10	2.131±0.7	2.119±0.10	2.109±0.15
DFA	73.247±1.13	73.623±0.80	73.812±0.55	73.823±0.65	73.775±1.09
OFA	0.210±0.06	0.231±0.02 a	0.204±0.02	0.216±0.03	0.194±0.02 b

a, b, c – means in rows with different letters differ significantly at P≤0.05.

References

Authors

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Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/aoas-2025-0096 | Journal eISSN: 2300-8733 (formerly 1642-3402) | Journal ISSN: 1642-3402

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Language: English

Page range: 839 - 853

Submitted on: Apr 4, 2025

Accepted on: Aug 12, 2025

Published on: Apr 30, 2026

Published by: National Research Institute of Animal Production

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Publication frequency: 4 issues per year

Keywords:

pigs,

dried herbs and fruits,

Related subjects:

© 2026 Magdalena Szyndler-Nędza, Małgorzata Świątkiewicz, Grzegorz Żak, Mirosław Tyra, Aurelia Mucha, Martyna Małopolska, Dariusz Lisiak, Karolina Szulc, Ewa Skrzypczak, published by National Research Institute of Animal Production
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 26 (2026): Issue 2 (April 2026)

Effect of Flax Seeds and Dried Herbs or Fruits on the Dietary Value and Shelf Life of Raw and Aged Meat*

Figures & Tables

Table 1.

Figure 1.

Table 2.

Table 3.

Table 4.

Table 5.

Table 6.

Table 7.

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