**1. Introduction**

The increasing awareness of the deleterious health effects of fat and saturated fatty acids (SFA) composition of meat and meat products has contributed to advances in alteration of the fatty acid (FA) profile of these food commodities [1,2]. Modern consumers prefer lean meat with high levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), especially n-3 and n-6 FA. In the porcine industry, positive strides have been made to produce lean pigs that have a favourably higher content of PUFA in their meat. One of the methods employed to improve the FA profile of pork is appropriate feeding with feed containing favourable fatty acids [2–7].

Although high PUFA levels are beneficial, they are responsible for producing soft fat associated with a low melting point [8–10]. This negatively affects the processing properties, oxidative stability and shelf life of meat products [11–13]. Meat products containing soft fat consequently have reduced firmness, exhibit fat caps (fatting out) and have an oily/shiny appearance when packed [5,12,14] although di fferent recipes, packaging and storage may also influence product quality [15,16]. Sensory attributes such as flavour and aroma are also negatively a ffected due to increased lipid oxidation of products developed using soft fat [12,13,17] especially in the case of salted/dried products such as cabanossi due to the pro-oxidant e ffect of salt [18]. Moreover, the processing of dry sausages manufactured with soft fat may be challenging as they may not achieve an adequate drying due to the liquefaction of fat which coats the lean particles [19,20]. Therefore, it is important to explore alternative fat sources which could potentially improve product quality.

Fat-tailed sheep reserve fat in their tails to be used during times when natural food resources are scarce [8,21]. However, managemen<sup>t</sup> practices such as tail docking result in a shift of fat deposition site from the tail to muscle and subcutaneous tissues, and the latter increases backfat thickness [22–24]. Although fat derived from ruminants is predominantly SFA [2,4,9], feed restriction has been associated with improved fatty acid profile of sheep backfat [25,26]. Alves et al. [23] demonstrated that backfat from Damara (a fat-tailed sheep breed) under dietary restrictions, had 1.6% less palmitic acid (C16:0) mainly due to constrained de novo synthesis of lipids. On the other hand, the concentration of oleic acid (C18:1cis-9) increased due to stearoyl-CoA desaturase and lipogenic activity that occurs during backfat mobilization [25]. Moreover, van Harten et al. [24] observed higher levels of omega-3 FA, i.e., eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA; C20:5n−3), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA; 22:5n−3) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; C22:6n−3) in lipids from feed restricted Damara compared to non-fat-tailed sheep (Dorper and Australian Merino). Dietary manipulation is well known to improve the fatty acid profiles of sheep lipids [2,4,27]. Overall, lipids obtained from either fat-tailed sheep [8,26] or sheep fed PUFA-manipulated diets [2–4] have healthier FA profiles and could be valuable resources for developing meat products.

In various countries where the Muslim faith is the predominant faith and religious practices do not permit utility of pork in processed Halal foods, meat and fatty tissues from sheep and goats, including tail fat from fat-tailed sheep breeds are used to produce traditional and modern meat products [28–30]. In Iran, fat from fat-tailed sheep is used for cooking [8], whereas it is used to produce a variety of meat products in North Africa and Mediterranean regions [28]. Sheep fat has previously been used to produce beef-fermented sausages (Bez sucuk) [28,30] and is typically used to make droëwors (a typical South African dried sausage) [31] although its use in game meat products is still limited. While local people consider game meat as indigenous, it is also considered exotic and is attractive to adventurous consumers, particularly tourists, who want to experience new culinary experiences and take home products as souvenirs [32,33].

In South Africa, consumers enjoy indigenous meat products including droëwors, biltong (dried meat) and exotic meat products including salami (semi-dry fermented sausage) and cabanossi [33,34]. In that regard, some local artisanal manufacturers are acquainted with producing salami and cabanossi using game meat [35,36]. Cabanossi, alternatively kabanosy [33,37], is a semi-dry, cured and smoked pork sausage originating from Poland but has become a well-known snack among the South African population [33,36]. As of 2012, kabanosy was recognised by the European Union as a "Traditional Specialities Guaranteed" (TSG) product under the Commission Implementing Regulation No: 1044/2011 [38]. This registration, however, does not limit other producers from manufacturing the product although they may not use the same name if the recipe deviates from the original [36]. Traditionally, cabanossi was produced from a young fat pig (kabenek) without the addition of fat as opposed to the current practice of adding di fferent fat sources to improve sensory attributes [36,39]. Nowadays, cabanossi is produced from several meat sources with additional fat for improved sensory attributes. Cabanossi produced from warthog meat and pork backfat (PF) was reported to be acceptable although criticized for its unhealthy FA profile [40], despite the favourable FA profile recorded for warthog meat [40,41], thereby stimulating research on other healthier fat sources. The aim of the current investigation was to determine the influence of fat-tailed sheep tail- and backfat (SF) on the physicochemical, fatty acids, lipid oxidation and sensory properties of warthog cabanossi.

#### **2. Materials and Methods**

#### *2.1. Harvesting and Meat Sampling*

Prior to the commencement of this study, ethical clearance was sought from the University of Fort Hare Research Ethics Committees (Ethical Clearance number: MUC361SMAH01). Warthogs (n = 24) used for meat in this study were harvested at a game farm (27◦ 22 09.26" S, 31◦ 50 42.16" E) near Pongola, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. The farm falls within the Savannah biome, which is characterised by summer rainfall, mean annual precipitation ranging from 500–900 mm. The procedures for harvesting warthogs were described previously by Rudman et al. [42] Meat from entire warthog carcasses was used for cabanossi production except for the *m. longissimus thoracis et lumborum* muscle which was used by Rudman et al. [42] The SF used was sourced from pasture-fed Damara sheep while di fferent batches of PF were purchased from a local abattoir in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. After harvesting and slaughter, meat and fat were vacuum packaged and stored at −20 ◦C until use.

#### *2.2. Preparation of Cabanossi*

The preparation of batter used to make cabanossi was similar to the method outlined previously [36]. Briefly, frozen warthog meat, PF and SF were thawed at <4 ◦C for ~12 h before use. Twelve separate 3 kg batches of PF (20%) and twelve separate 3 kg batches of SF (20%) cabanossi were produced. To avoid pseudoreplication, each batch of cabanossi was produced using meat from a unique animal (n = 24). To control the ratio between meat and fat in the batter, meat was trimmed of visible excess fat and sinews. Meat and fat were cut into ~5 × 5 cm cubes. Meat (2.4 kg) was weighed into a separate tray where 0.6 kg fat was added and hand mixed. After mixing, the mixture was minced through a 5 mm grinding plate (Manica, Model number CM-21, Equipamientos Carnicos, Barcelona, Spain) where after the spice mixture was added. The spice mixture consisted of 2% salt, 0.24% curing agen<sup>t</sup> (Prague powder #1: Freddy Hirsh, Somerset West, South Africa), 0.2% black pepper, 0.06% nutmeg, 0.1% roasted and grounded caraway seeds and 0.2% mustard. The batter was mixed and minced again through the 5 mm plate before stu ffing into 22 mm diameter sheep casings using a manual sausage filler (MOD. 7/V, Tre Spade, Torino, Italy). The cabanossi were hung in a temperature and humidity controlled drying chamber (Reich Airmaster ® UKF 2000 BE, Reich Klima-Räuchertechnik, Urbach, Germany) for 16 h as described previously [33].
