Quality of Meat from Female Fallow Deer (Dama Dama) and Roe Deer (Capreolus Capreolus) Hunted in Serbia

Deer meat is a high quality and valuable food for human consumption. It has high nutritive value because of its high protein and heme iron content, and low levels of fats and saturated fatty acids. The aim of this study was to examine the quality parameters of meat from fallow deer and roe deer that were hunted in Serbia. Parameters studied were live weight, carcass weight, chemical composition of meat, color, fatty acid content of meat, volatile compounds, and sensory characteristics. The results obtained show no significant difference in the chemical composition of these two species of deer meat, but there were differences regarding fatty acid content, volatile compounds, color and sensory properties of meat. The ratios of polyunsaturated to saturated fatty acids in the deer meat ranged from 0.387 to 0.556. The results suggest that deer species has a significant impact on the fatty acid profile and content of volatile compounds of deer meat.