European rabbit meat production is approximately 500 thousand tons, corresponding to a 30% share of the world production. It is concentrated in the Mediterranean Region. Italy is by far Europe’s leading producer of rabbit meat, with Spain ranking second, and France third [1]. Rabbit meat is still considered a niche product, especially because of its time consuming preparation which requires culinary skills and because of cultural differences among European consumers. However rabbit meat is often recommended by nutritionists over other meats because it fits well with the current consumer demand for a low-fat meat with a high degree of fatty acid unsaturation and low sodium and cholesterol levels. Moreover, on last years, consumer lifestyle changes in developed countries have led to a meat market more and more focused on easy-handled and processed products (“convenience foods”).

Currently research in the rabbit sector is interested in developing feeding strategies aimed at further increasing the nutritional value of rabbit meat as a “functional food” by the inclusion in rabbit diets of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), vitamins and antioxidants and assessing their effects on both raw and stored/processed meat quality properties [2,3]. Despite the limited capacity of metabolic conversion of α-linolenic acid (ALA; C18:3 n-3) to longer chain PUFA such as eicosapentaenoic (EPA; 20:5 n-5) and docosapentaenoic (DHA; 22:6 n-3) acids [4], there are many potential roles in human health for ALA that could be independent from its conversion to DHA [5]. Linseed (or flaxseed) is particularly rich in ALA (50-60% of total fatty acids) and is commonly used as a dietary supplement in humans. Alpha-linolenic acid (C18:3 n-3) is an essential fatty acid in the human diet and the major dietary source of α-linolenic acid are some vegetable oils such as rapeseed and soybean, where it accounts for up to 10% of total fatty acids [6].

The intramuscular fatty acid composition of monogastric animals is a reflection of their dietary fatty acids, while in ruminants biohydrogenation in the rumen (i.e., saturation of the dietary unsaturated fatty acids) is responsible for the smaller variations in intramuscular fatty acid composition [7]. As a consequence, the dietary use of linseed in monogastric animals has been proposed by many authors as a plant-based way to raise the content of n-3 PUFA, and mainly α-linolenic acid (C18:3 n-3) in poultry [8,9,10,11], pork [12,13,14] and rabbit meat [15,16,17,18,19]. Providing increased amounts of n-3 essential fatty acids in human nutrition through the meat consumption can contribute to balance the n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio of the today’s consumer diet, thus preventing some correlated diseases such as hypercholesterolemia-related heart attack and strokes [4,7,20].

Fatty acids are involved in many technological aspects of meat quality. The main problem associated with the modification of the natural fatty acid profile of muscle foods is determined by the ability of unsaturated fatty acids, especially those with more than two double bounds, to oxidise and thus reduce the shelf-life of meat products [7]. This problem could also be more important when the meat with a high level of PUFA is used for further processing that involves mincing, long term frozen storage, and cooking [21]. Moreover, it has been widely reported that lipid oxidation represents a key-role in the development of cooked meat flavour. In swine, for example, it has been suggested that dietary use of linseed could impair the flavour of cooked meat when the α-linolenic (C18:3 n-3) acid content of the meat is above 3% of total fatty acids [14,22].

Our research group carried out some studies in order to investigate the effect of different inclusion levels of whole linseed (up to 9%) in diets for growing rabbits on fatty acid composition, susceptibility to lipid oxidation, and sensory quality of the meat [23,24]. The experimental diets were formulated to meet the nutritional requirements of growing rabbits and linseed was added as a substitute for palm oil. Diets were offered to the rabbits during the last phase of growing period (3–4 weeks before slaughtering) and were supplemented with a supra-nutritional level of 200 mg/kg of feed α-tocopheryl acetate (vitamin E) in order to limit lipid oxidation in meat products [16].

Our studies on rabbit meat indicate that the dietary inclusion of linseed from 3 to 6% might be considered as a way both to achieve the enrichment of α-linolenic acid of the meat and guarantee a satisfactory product stability. This α-linolenic acid enrichment has the potential to provide a useful contribution intake of n-3 PUFA helping to balance n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio in rabbit meat products, even if it was confirmed a limited efficiency of its conversion to the long chain n-3 PUFA (EPA and DHA).

Higher levels of dietary linseed inclusion can be profitably used in products sold as whole carcass or cut-up which are less prone to undergo lipid oxidation compared to processed products. Particular attention should be given when meat with a high level of PUFA is used for further processing that involves mincing, cooking and long term frozen storage. Moreover, considering the overall results, the product quality concerning lipid oxidation and sensory properties can be considered quite good, despite the high level of unsaturation determined by the use of linseed. This might be also related to the positive effect exerted by α-tocopheryl-acetate (200 mg/kg feed).