The supplementation of oils in pigs’ diets can affect pork’s fatty acid (FA) composition. It is recommended that humans consume more unsaturated fats due to their health benefits. One strategy to enhance the unsaturated fat profile of pork is feeding dietary fat sources high in unsaturated fats to pigs. In this study, high oleic soybean oil (HOSO) was added to the diets of finishing pigs and compared to pigs whose diets were supplemented with inedible pork fat referred to as choice white grease (CWG) or pigs that were fed diets without any oil/fat supplementation. The oil supplementation was added 4 wk before marketing or 2 wk before marketing. The results from this study show pigs supplemented with oil (HOSO and CWG) had an improved growth performance. Supplementation with HOSO increased the oleic acid concentration while supplementation with CWG increased the concentration of saturated fats in the meat. Carcass characteristics and consumer sensory evaluation were not majorly affected by fat addition to the diets. There was no major effect of duration of supplementation of fats on growth performance, carcass characteristics, FA profile, or consumer sensory evaluation.

Read the full article in the Journal of Animal Science.