Physical characteristics of pig fat and their relation to fatty acid composition

One hundred and five samples of pig backfat were assessed for appearance (colour and translucency) and hardness. The fatty acid profile of a selected subset of 50 samples was determined. Increased yellow colour was associated with increased linoleic and α-linolenic acid percentages. Increased translucency and fat softness were associated with decreased percentages of palmitic and stearic and oleic acid and a concurrent increase in the proportions of linoleic and α-linolenic acid. Oleic acid was found to be the single highest component (33.0–45.4%) and linoleic to show the greatest variation in range (9.8–28.4%).