Carcass characteristics, meat quality and nutritional value of horse meat: a review

Meat has exerted a crucial role in human evolution and is an important component of a healthy andwell balanced diet due to its nutritional richness. The aimof the present review was to shed light on the nutritional composition of horsemeat and their benefits for human health. One of the reasons for such interest was the occurrence, in Europe several years ago, of dioxin, Bovine Encephalopathy and foot-and-mouth disease problems in farm animals. Therefore, consumers began to look for alternative red meats from other non-traditional species. There is no carcass classification systemon horses designated to meat consumption. It would be advisable to standardize the equinemeatmarket to reduce variations thatmay reflect differences in meat quality. The nutritional composition of horsemeat by comparisonwith pork, beef or poultry is characterized by low levels of fat and cholesterol (about 20% less), relatively high concentrations of n−3 fatty acids and heme iron indicating that its consumption may be beneficial for health. Therefore, horsemeatmay supplement themeatmarketwith good quality products, although as in other dietary components moderation is advisable.