Quality and Consumer Acceptance of Meat from Rabbits Fed Diets in Which Soybean Oil is Replaced with Black Soldier Fly and Yellow Mealworm Fats

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Insect lipids are an interesting, potential feed ingredient for animal farming and maybe a suitable alternative to less eco-friendly fat sources (i.e., soybean, palm kernel, coconut, and fish oil). The possible utilization of insect fats in rabbit diets has been poorly investigated so far, and only a few papers that show encouraging results, in terms of growth performance, diet digestibility, and the intestinal morphology of rabbits, are available. The present study evaluated the effect of a partial (50%) or total (100%) substitution of soybean oil by two insect fats (Black soldier fly, H and Yellow mealworm, T) on the characteristics, proximate composition, lipid peroxidation, and fatty acid profile of the meat of rabbits, as well as on consumer acceptance. The results are encouraging as the meat of the rabbits fed the diets containing insect fats was less susceptible to oxidation, while the meat of the rabbits given diets with H fat had higher concentrations of saturated fatty acid rate and a lower polyunsaturated fatty acid rate than those fed the diets with soybean and T fat. Overall, these results highlighted the possibility of replacing soybean oil with H and T fats in rabbit diets without affecting consumer acceptance. ABSTRACT: This trial investigated the effect of the dietary inclusion of Hermetia illucens (H) and Tenebrio molitor (T) fats as alternative lipid sources for growing rabbits, and assessed the carcass characteristics; proximate composition; lipid peroxidation, and fatty acid profile of the meat, as well as consumer acceptance. At weaning, 200 crossbred rabbits (1051 ± 138 g initial body weight) were allotted to five isolipidic (4% dry matter (DM)) dietary treatments: a control diet (C) containing 1.5% of soybean oil, and four experimental diets in which soybean oil was partially (50%) or totally (100%) substituted by H (H50 and H100) or T (T50 and T100) fats. The carcass characteristics, the meat quality traits, and the consumer acceptance of the cooked meat were not affected. The fat content of Longissimus thoracis et lumborum muscle of the rabbits was 1.1% on average. In the case of rabbit fed the H diets (average of diets H50 and H100), the same muscles revealed a higher saturated fatty acid proportion (47.1% vs. 39.7% and 40.8%, respectively) and a lower polyunsaturated fatty acid proportion than the rabbits fed the C and T diets (average of diets T50 and T100) (26.5% vs. 31.7% and 29.7%) (p < 0.001). The meat of the rabbits fed the diets containing insect fat (average for H and T diets) was less susceptible to oxidation (0.24 vs. 0.39 mg malondialdehyde/kg meat in the C group; p < 0.01).