Organic selenium dietary supplementation improves pork meat stability during vacuum-packaged storage

This study assessed the effects of organic selenium supplementation in pig diets on meat quality and stability during refrigerated vacuum storage. The animals were categorized into two treatment groups: CONT (control group; basal diet) and SEL (experimental group; basal diet + 0.3 ppm organic selenium, supplemented during the finishing phase). After slaughter, samples of loin were vacuum packaged, and physicochemical analyses were performed during 28 days of storage at 4 °C. Dietary selenium supplementation resulted in a 3-fold increase in meat selenium content. The color coordinate (a*, b*, C*, and h) results demonstrated the protective effect of organic selenium and increased stability during storage. No inhibitory effect was observed on protein or lipid oxidation in meat, probably because of the low fat content of the samples. Meat from the SEL group showed higher tenderness than meat from the CONT group. Supplementation with organic selenium in the diet of animals promotes significant nutritional enrichment of meat and beneficial technological effects, providing increased tenderness and maintaining color stability during storage.