EFFETTI SULLA QUALITA’ DEL PROSCIUTTO FRESCO E STAGIONATO DI DIETE CONTENENTI FONTI PROTEICHE VEGETALI ALTERNATIVE ALLA SOIA

European livestock production depends, at a large extent, on soybean meal import. Furthermore, since the most part of soybean is genetically modified, several Italian and European producers have taken a caution stance towards these organism (GMOs) and have banned their use in some animal production chains. Examples are found also in the organic production chain. The trial was aimed to evaluate the effects of the total replacement of soybean with alternative vegetable protein sources in Italian heavy pigs feeding with particular regard to the effects on the main qualitative parameters of raw and cured hams. Our results indicate that the use of alternative vegetable sources has no negative impact either on raw (fatty acids composition and iodine number) or cured (weight losses, colour, moisture, proteolysis index, NaCl content and sensory evaluation score) hams quality.