Strategies for fat reduction and improvement of emulsified meat products

ANDRÉS S C; MARCHETTI LUCAS; CALIFANO A N

Strategies for the obtaining of healthier foods

NOVA SCIENCE PUBLISHER

Año: 2017; p. 1 - 15

Meats and processed meats are associated with nutrients and nutritional profiles that are often considered negative including high levels of saturated fatty acids, cholesterol, sodium and high fat and caloric contents. Some of these negative nutrients in meats can be minimized by selection of lean meat cuts, removal of adipose fat, dietary manipulation to alter fatty acid composition and proper portion control to decrease fat consumption and caloric intake. Besides, the nutritional profile of meat products could be further improved by addition of potentially health promoting nutrients. These products would be categorized as functional foods, which are defined as foods with nutritional profiles that exceed conventional products. Different technological strategies had been studied in order to develop emulsified meat products with healthier characteristics but keeping the quality properties of the traditional ones. Several possibilities are available: use of low fat meat in order to reduce total fat content, addition of different hydrocolloids, non-meat proteins and/or gums, to reach an adequate water and fat retention and reduce cook losses. Another one is the replacement of the traditional animal fat used with pre-emulsified marine oil as a source of unsaturated fatty acids, especially polyunsaturated fatty acids, like EPA and DHA, combined with hydrocolloids to compensate the lost in hardness and natural antioxidants to control lipid instability. This approach could be optimized through response surface methodology to find the best combination of additives that lead an adequate process yield, similar physicochemical characteristics to the non-substituted traditional one, but a healthier low-fat meat emulsified product.