Page 117 - Natural Antioxidants, Applications in Foods of Animal Origin

96 Natural Antioxidants: Applications in Foods of Animal Origin
VetBooks.ir ABSTRACT

In recent years, there is a lot of buzz about natural antioxidants. Scientific
advances, awareness of personal health, increasing healthcare costs, busy
lifestyles, and technical advances in the meat industry have stimulated the
“green consumerism.” Demands for the natural ingredients have forced the
researchers as well as meat industry to go for natural alternatives for synthetic
antioxidants. In this journey numerous plant materials have been screened
for their potential to prevent protein and lipid peroxidation. The extracts of
these plant materials have also been screened for their active principles and
have been attempted in different meat and meat products at various concen-
trations or levels and the quality, acceptability of the products have been
assessed. In future, we can see many more natural alternatives of synthetic
antioxidants with better potency and functionality for meat products.

3.1 INTRODUCTION

Meat as a food has a complex physical structure and chemical composition
that is very prone to oxidation (Wood et al., 2008). The oxidative stability
of meat depends upon the interaction between endogenous anti- and pro-
oxidant substances and the substrates prone to oxidation including polyun-
saturated fatty acids (PUFA), cholesterol, proteins, and pigments (Bertelsen
et al., 2000). Additionally, a variety of intrinsic properties and processing
steps can pre-dispose meat to lipid oxidation. For example, meat from non-
ruminants is more prone to lipid oxidation than that of ruminants (Tichivan-
gana & Morrissey, 1985) due to greater concentrations of unsaturated fatty
acids (Enser et al., 1996); muscle with red fibers are more susceptible than
white fibers because they contain more iron and phospholipid (Wood et al.,
2004); processing of meat will accelerate lipid oxidation as the comminution
or grinding process will incorporates oxygen and increase surface area as a
result of particle size reduction (Gray et al., 1996).
Oxidation of lipids is a complex chemical process which involves the
development of off-flavor, decreases the acceptability of meat and meat
products by deteriorating their color, texture, and nutritive value, and can
ultimately precipitate health hazards and economic losses in terms of infe-
rior product quality (Naveena et al., 2008b). The oxidation process can be
reduced or inhibited through application of antioxidants. These antioxidants
could be either from synthetic or from natural sources; the latter includes
both endogenous natural antioxidants (present in meat itself) and exogenous