Characterization of Chicken By-products by Mean of Proximate and Nutritional Compositions

Though a great amount of chicken by-products are consumed everyday in many countries worldwide, however, no attention has been paid to the investigation of nutritional composition of these by-products. In the present work, the basic information regarding the aspects of nutritional composition of chicken by-products such as; liver, gizzard, heart, lung, crop, small intestines, cecum and duodenum was studied. Our results revealed that the approximate composition range (minimum to maximum) of these by-products was found as such: moisture 76.68-83.23%; fat 0.81-4.53%, protein 10.96-17.70% and calories 983.20-1,426.0 cal/g tissue, in which liver and gizzard had the highest protein content. Liver had higher (p<0.05) vitamin A, B1, B2, B3, B5 and B6 contents in comparison to other remaining by-products. Total saturated fatty acids (SFA), unsaturated fatty acids (UFA), polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) levels ranged between the by-products from 31.82% to 43.96%, 56.04% to 68.19%, and 18.27% to 32.05%, respectively. Remarkably, all of by-products showed desirable PUFA/SFA ratios. Furthermore, all of chicken by-products, especially liver, contained higher levels of trace elements (e.g., Fe, Mn and Zn) in comparison with those from muscle tissues published in literature. Overall, the study indicated that most of chicken by-products examined are good sources of essential nutrients and these obtained results will be the useful information to consumers and meat processors.