UC Davis

This experiment aimed to evaluate meat quality, fatty acid profile in back-fat, and fecal microbiota of growing-finishing pigs fed with liquid enzymatically digested food waste. Fifty-six crossbred pigs (approximately 32.99 kg body weight) were assigned to one of two treatments with seven replicate pens and four pigs per pen. Pigs were fed with control (corn-soybean meal diets) or food waste from d 0 to 53, while all pigs were fed with the control diet from d 53 to 79. The 16S rRNA sequencing was used to analyze microbiota of feces collected on d 0, 28, 53, and 79. Meat quality and carcass characteristics were measured in one pig per pen at the end of the experiment. Pigs fed with food waste contained more (p < 0.05) eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in back-fat. Feeding food waste increased (p < 0.05) the relative abundances of Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcaceae, but decreased (p < 0.05) the relative abundances of Streptococcaceae and Clostridiaceae in feces on d 29 or d 53. In conclusion, feeding enzymatically digested food waste did not affect pork quality, but provided more beneficial fatty acids to pork consumers and altered the fecal microbiota in growing-finishing pigs.