Cooking effect on fatty acid profile of pork breakfast sausages enriched in conjugated linoleic acid by dietary supplementation or direct addition

The effectiveness of increasing CLA in pork products through animal dietary supplementation or direct addition in the product formulation has been studied, and the effect of grilling on dry matter and fat contents and fatty acid composition has been analysed. Sausages made with meat and back fat from pigs with CLA dietary supplementation had the highest saturated fatty acid content. Sausages from dietary supplementation and direct addition had CLA levels between 6% and 7% of total fatty acids. Moisture and fat contents decreased and increased respectively after cooking for the three sausage types (control, dietary supplementation, direct addition). Grilling had little effect on fatty acid levels, especially for sausages with direct addition in the product formulation. In general, saturated fatty acids increased and poly-unsaturated fatty acids decreased due to the increase of C16:0 and to the decrease of C18:2 n − 6c and C18:3 n − 3 fatty acids. Added CLA, both from animal dietary supplementation or direct addition, remained at similar levels in cooked sausages to those found in raw sausages.