Selected Features of Vineyard Snails Shell, their Movement and Physico-Chemical Composition of Foot Meat

ABSTRACT

Land gastropods—vineyard snails (Helix pomatia L.) are distinguished by high demand and highly valued in the countries of the European Union (EU). Nowadays high proportion of these snails is being exported from Lithuania. Meat of vineyard snails is consumed as food product so during process of breeding and growth it seems necessary to take into consideration climate conditions, environmental pollution in the area and industrial enterprises. The aim of this research was to study the shell size, movement speed and meat physico-chemical composition of the snails, collected in different regions of Lithuania. Vineyard snails growing in natural conditions were collected during April—May of 2004 in various territorial regions and divided on 9 groups. Measurements of movement speed and shell size were carried out. The snails from each group after 6 day (144 hours) fastening period were removed from the shell and cleaned according to the Special requirements for the snails intended for human consumption. Meat physico-chemical properties were studied according to the standard methods. Biometrical calculations were completed according to MS Exel 97 spreadsheet. It was defined during the experiments that the size of shell of vineyard snails collected from different regions of Lithuania was not related to the place of collection. The shells of the snails originated along intensively used international highway were on average by 7% (P<0.001) narrower and by 11% lower (P<0.001) than of the snails originated from other places. Their movement speed was on average 2,4 m/hour and differed among the regions inconsiderably (P<0.05). Consequently, it can be concluded that the place of origin had no effect on this parameter. Meat physico-chemical properties depended on the chemical fertilization and sugar industry enterprises as well as other chemical enterprises located in the place of origin and intensive highways. Lower amounts of dry matter, protein and ash and higher amounts of fat and lighter colour were observed in these regions.