foods Article Profile of Back Bacon Produced From the Common Warthog Louwrens C. Hoffman 1,2,* , Monlee Rudman 1,3 and Alison J. Leslie 3 1 Department of Animal Sciences, Faculty AgriSciences, Mike de Vries Building, Private Bag X1, Matieland, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch 7602, South Africa;
[email protected] 2 Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland, Coopers Plains, QLD 4108, Australia 3 Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology, Faculty AgriSciences, JS Marais Building, Private Bag X1, Matieland, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch 7602, South Africa;
[email protected] * Correspondence: Louwrens.hoff
[email protected]; Tel.: +61-4-1798-4547 Received: 7 April 2020; Accepted: 9 May 2020; Published: 15 May 2020 Abstract: The common warthog (Phacochoerus africanus) has historically been hunted and consumed by rural communities throughout its distribution range in Africa. This study aims to develop a processed product from warthog meat in the form of back bacon (Longissimus thoracis et lumborum) as a healthy alternative meat product and to determine its chemical and sensory characteristics derived from adult and juvenile boars and sows. The highest scored attributes included typical bacon and smoky aroma and flavor, and salty flavor, as well as tenderness and juiciness. Neither sex nor age influenced the bacon’s chemical composition; the bacon was high in protein (~29%) and low in total fat (<2%). Palmitic (C16:0), stearic (C18:0), linoleic (C18:2!6), oleic (C18:1!9c), and arachidonic (C20:4!6) were the dominant fatty acids. There was an interaction between sex and age for the PUFA:SFA ratio (p = 0.01).