Antioxidant potential of synthetic and natural antioxidants and its effect on warmed-over-flavour in different species of meat

The role of natural antioxidants, e.g. Maillard reaction products (MRPs 60 mM/2 h), ascorbic acid (500 ppm), cloves (Eugenia caryophyllata) (250 mg/100 g), cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) (250 mg/100 g) and synthetic antioxidants, e.g. tertiary butyl hydroxy quinone (TBHQ), butylated hydroxy anisole (BHA) and propyl gallate (PG), at 0.02% level each, in controlling the warmed-over-flavour (WOF), and non-haem iron release, as well as their potential in cooked and refrigerated stored meats from three common domestic species (sheep, beef and pork) has been investigated. MRPs and TBHQ showed good antioxidant activity (82–91%) and were significantly different (P < 0.05) from the other treatments in all three species. Significantly (P < 0.05) lower values of hexanal and non-haem iron were obtained for MRPs and TBHQ treated samples, which showed ability to control WOF during refrigerated storage. Non-linear correlation regression analysis was performed between non-haem iron, WOF values and antioxidant activity in all three species. Exponential fit equations were established for beef and pork, while for sheep, the relationship was found to be polynomial with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.90 to 0.97 for non-haem iron and WOF, respectively. The susceptibility of these species to lipid oxidation was in the order, pork > beef > sheep, and the order of antioxidant activity for the natural antioxidants was MRPs > cloves > ascorbic acid >  cinnamon; for synthetics it was TBHQ > BHA > PG.