Production variations of nutritional composition of commercial meat products

Changes in nutrient composition that habitually occur in commercial meat products in the course of production need to be considered for purposes of production systems control, consumer safety, nutritional information, labelling, official regulations or quality of food composition databases. This paper reports a study of production time variations in the nutritional composition of commercial meat products with different characteristics such as composition (protein and fat levels) and processing conditions (lean-only cuts, ground meat, fresh, cooked, brined, etc.). Proximate composition, fatty acid profile, cholesterol concentration, energy value and mineral content were evaluated. Over the year variability in nutrient composition were generally observed in meat products. The variability of composition (proximate analysis and fatty acid proportion) was greater in lean-only cut products as compared with ground meats. The relationship between fat and cholesterol contents of meat products presented correlation coefficients of 0.809 (P < 0.001) and 0.859 (P < 0.001) for the relationship between cholesterol and the sum of fat and protein contents. Several of the products considered are significant sources of Fe, Zn and K. Production variations in nutritional profiles observed in various meat products can affect the dietary assessment of some components, and also the product's nutritional labelling.