Sources of variability in the analysis of meat nutrient coenzyme Q10Â for food composition databases

•High variability in the composition of meat in certain specific nutrients.•Meat composition in databases may not reflect the real situation for specific nutrients.•Adequate labelling for meat including type/proportion of muscles in cuts is necessary.

Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) or ubiquinone (2,3-dimethoxy-5-methyl-6-multiprenyl-1,4-benzoquinone) is an endogenous hydroxybenzoquinone liposoluble compound which plays important physiological roles that makes it to be considered as a bioactive compound that may be used for clinical practices and as food supplement. The purpose of this work was to analyse CoQ10 in three muscles with different oxidative patterns and determine its variability in different animal species (pork, beef, lamb and rabbit). The content of CoQ10 ranged from 4.3 to 30.9 μg/g meat with the highest content in those muscles with oxidative pattern. So, more specific data on type of meat cut and proportion of muscles must be given for this nutrient when reporting its content in food composition databases.