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More than Beef, Pork and Chicken – The Production, Processing, and Quality Traits of Other Sources of Meat for Human Diet pp 385–408Cite as

Exotic Meats: An Alternative Food Source

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Abstract

Exotic meats were a protein source for human diet for many years. However, the massive capture caused the overexploitation and placed many reptiles and amphibious on the verge of extinction. Therefore, the captive rearing, the control during slaughtering and processing has been proposed as an alternative to the capture of wild animals. The present chapter shows the nutritional composition of this kind of meat, characterized by low levels of fat, high contents of protein, essential amino acids, fatty acids (especially long-chain n-3) and minerals indicating that their consumption may be beneficial for human health. However, very little data is available on the nutritional value of these meats. To concluded, exotic meat is an interesting alternative to be considered as a component of the human diet. In addition, the farming of exotic species could be important in the economy of some regions or countries.

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Acknowledgements

Paulo E. S. Munekata acknowledges postdoctoral fellowship support from Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO, Spain) “Juan de la Cierva” program (FJCI-2016-29486). José M. Lorenzo and Paulo E. S. Munekata are members of the MARCARNE network, funded by CYTED (ref.116RT0503).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro Tecnológico de la Carne de Galicia, Parque Tecnológico de Galicia, Ourense, Spain

    Rubén Domínguez, Mirian Pateiro, Paulo E. S. Munekata & José Manuel Lorenzo

  2. INRA, UMR Herbivores, Saint-Genès-Champanelle, France

    Mohammed Gagaoua

  3. Nutrition and Food Science Area, Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Food Sciences, Toxicology and Forensic Medicine Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universitat de València, València, Spain

    Francisco J. Barba

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  1. Rubén Domínguez
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  2. Mirian Pateiro
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  3. Paulo E. S. Munekata
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  4. Mohammed Gagaoua
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  5. Francisco J. Barba
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  6. José Manuel Lorenzo
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Correspondence to Rubén Domínguez .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centro Tecnolóxico da Carne, Ourense, Spain

    José Manuel Lorenzo

  2. Centro Tecnolóxico da Carne, Ourense, Spain

    Paulo E. S. Munekata

  3. Universitat de València, València, Spain

    Francisco J. Barba

  4. Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA-CSIC), València, Spain

    Fidel Toldrá

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Domínguez, R., Pateiro, M., Munekata, P.E.S., Gagaoua, M., Barba, F.J., Lorenzo, J.M. (2019). Exotic Meats: An Alternative Food Source. In: Lorenzo, J., Munekata, P., Barba, F., Toldrá, F. (eds) More than Beef, Pork and Chicken – The Production, Processing, and Quality Traits of Other Sources of Meat for Human Diet. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05484-7_13

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