Amino acid composition in relation to protein nutritional quality of meat and poultry products.

The protein nutritional value of meat, poultry, and their products must be considered in relation to humans. Because direct assessment of protein nutritional value in human subjects is impractical for regulatory purposes, methods based on in vitro (chemical) and animal bioassays for assessment of protein quality have been developed. Herein, a case is made for the use of amino acid data as a basis for regulation of meat and poultry products, where considerations of protein nutritional value are included in the regulation. Current data on the protein nutritional quality of these products are based almost entirely on the use of the rat PER assay procedure, supplemented by data on the amino acid content of these products. Because of the inadequacy of the PER assay, the available data base provides an inadequate body of knowledge from which to draw final recommendations concerning policies for regulation of the protein nutritional quality of meat and poultry products. However, if it is necessary to include a measure of protein nutritional quality in a regulation, these data provide a reasonably sound basis for tentatively recommending use of amino acid composition data rather than the standard rat bioassay procedure. In such an approach based on amino acid composition data, consideration might be given to the contents of hydroxyproline (or possibly proline), 3-methylhistidine, lysine, and nitrogen, with a view to establishing a composite or minimum value for the noncollagen muscle protein content of these products.