Page 187 - Natural Antioxidants, Applications in Foods of Animal Origin

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

Arising consumer interests in “natural” and “fresh” muscle foods with
minimum chemical preservatives have motivated researchers to explore
antioxidant efficacy of many naturally occurring compounds. Many plants
or their parts, fruits, vegetables, herbs, and spices contain diverse bioac-
tive compounds namely phenolics, flavonoids, β-carotene, α-tocopherol,
glucosides, dietary fibres, and macro-minerals especially potassium. These
bioactive compounds, especially phenolic compounds, glucosides, and
some important vitamins like vit. C and vit. E possess significant ABTS +
radical cation, 1, 1 diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical, and super
oxide anion scavenging activity. This antioxidant potential of leaves,
seeds, vegetables, fruits can be utilized in different form such as paste,
powder, solvent extract etc. to augment the shelf life of poultry products
and could replace the synthetic antioxidants effectively. Addition of natu-
rally derived compounds found to have substantial desirable effects on the
physico-chemical, microbiological, and sensory attributes of poultry prod-
ucts. It has been reported that poultry products are rich in diverse bioac-
tive compounds which exert chemomodulatory effects through a variety
of physiological processes. Dietary intake of fruits and vegetables rich in
phenolic/flavonoid compounds prevents excessive free radical formation in
the cell, thereby, reduces risk of coronary heart diseases including stroke
and cancers. Hence, utilization of these naturally occurring compounds in
variety of poultry products will not only increase the storage stability, but
also provide adequate health promoting effect to the consumer. In view of
these facts, large scope exists for the use of naturally occurring antioxidants
in processing of animal food products including poultry. Research studies
were carried out on the beneficial aspects of natural antioxidants in improve-
ment of poultry products quality. It is assumed that this chapter will be of
great value to the researchers, academicians, entrepreneurs, students, and
also some poultry producers/processors who are directly or indirectly linked
with the processing of various poultry products.

5.1 INTRODUCTION

Poultry products are rich source of proteins, lipids, vitamins, and minerals,
out of which lipids are considered to be the integral components of these food
products. Being an integral component, the fatty acid compositions of cell
membranes’ phospholipid fractions are especially important in determining the