Effect of stabiliser classes (animal proteins, vegetable proteins, starches, hydrocolloids and dietary fibre) on the physicochemical properties of a model lean meat product

status: publishe

Fatty Acid and Amino Acid Profiles of Seven Edible Insects: Focus on Lipid Class Composition and Protein Conversion Factors

This study is based on the fatty acid and amino acid profiles of seven edible insect species: Acheta domesticus, Alphitobius diaperinus, Blaptica dubia, Galleria mellonella, Locusta migratoria, Tenebrio molitor, and Zophobas morio. The aim of the present study is to provide new data on the fatty acid distributions among lipid classes as well as the species-specific protein conversion factor (Kp) of a wide range of insects in order to further improve the nutritional characterisation of insects as food. Oleic acid was the predominant fatty acid in all insects except for A. domesticus, in which a significantly higher percentage of linoleic acid was found. The majority of the lipids were neutral lipids. A significant amount of α-linolenic acid in the phospholipid fraction of L. migratoria was shown, while in T. molitor, phospholipids were the only fraction in which a measurable amount of docosahexaenoic acid was found. Overall, in most insects, the phospholipid fraction had the highest polyunsaturated fatty acid content compared to the other classes, which may be protective in terms of auto-oxidative stability. Kp values in the range of 4.17 to 6.43 were obtained. Within the nutritional quality indices, all insects showed healthy fatty acids and high-quality amino acid profiles

Application of non-invasive technologies in dry-cured ham: An overview

BACKGROUND: Dry-cured ham is one of the most valued food products by Mediterranean consumers. In this sense, the appropriate development of its different production stages is essential to ensure the quality requirements. For this reason, non-invasive technologies have gained popularity and have been reported as useful not only to ensure the food safety of different products, but also to monitor fundamental stages in the production process, such as the salting stage, to analyze the content of different compounds without sample losses, and to correct possible defects in the final product. Scope and approach: This work has been focused on summarizing the studies that describe and have successfully applied these techniques, as well as on mentioning other technologies with potential use in dry-cured ham manufacture which have not been studied enough. Finally, the potential next steps to improve and optimize the process, as well as the suitability of creating new products with added value based on the new quality standards, have also been evaluated. Key findings and conclusions: Innovative non-invasive technologies such as high pressure (HP), ultrasound (US), pulsed electric fields (PEF), microwaves, irradiation, etc. can be used as promising tools to effectively control salting and curing stages as well as for checking defects of the final product and/or ensuring food safety. HP and US are useful tools for the determination of salt and fat content, and for monitoring the salting process. Moreover, HP enhances salty taste perception, which makes it a useful tool to reduce salt addition. Both, HP and US, can correct texture defects. In addition, NIBS allows predicting the state of the meat to remove those pieces that could result in defective products. Moreover, RAMAN or MRI are able to detect anomalous textures at the end of the process. Microwaves could be useful for the online estimation of salt, water and fat contents easily with portable equipment. Finally, data mining, that allows to make predictions based on an immense data file, is the most promising discovery in recent years for detecting defects or classifying products according to sensory attributes

Characterization of Volatile Compounds of Dry-Cured Meat Products Using HS-SPME-GC/MS Technique

A direct extraction of volatile organic compounds (VOC) using HS-SPME method was proposed. The identification and quantification of VOC of six dry-cured meat products were developed using gas chromatography-single mass spectrometry technique. This method allowed obtaining high sensitive, repeatable and reproducible results using a simple and fast analysis. The compounds were organized according to their chemical family to facilitate their presentation, due to some of them can have different origins. The possible origins were discussed in text. The VOC detected in the present research could be divided into three different groups: The first group included typical volatile derived from chemical reactions that take place during dry-cured stage, mainly lipid oxidation and amino acid degradation. Some VOC in the first group having high influence in the overall aroma were alcohols (1-penten-3-ol, 1-octen-3-ol and 1-hexanol), aldehydes (butanal, 2- and 3-methyl, propanal, 2-methyl, hexanal, octanal and nonanal), acids (acetic acid, butanoic acid and butanoic acid, 2- and 3-methyl), furan, 2-penthyl, ketones (acetoin) or ethyl esters. The second group included terpenes and some sulphur compounds derived from spices used in the meat product formulation. Finally, the third group included furans, phenols, pyrazines and pyridines derived from smoking process. As a general conclusion, the results indicated that the use of HS-SPME-GC/MS is an adequate method for VOC analysis in dry-cured meat products