Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
2451528 Meat Science 2007 11 Pages PDF
Abstract

The present study aimed to analyse the chemical composition and oxidative status of Iberian dry-cured hams from pigs fed different finishing diets: extensive feeding on acorns and pasture in a “Montanera” traditional system (MON), fed in confinement with a mixed diet containing high-oleic sunflower oil (115 g/kg of diet) and supplemented with 250 mg/kg α-tocopherol (HOVE), and fed in confinement control mixed diet (CON) without added tocopherol and oleic acid fat. Muscles from MON dry-cured hams contained significantly (p < 0.05) higher amounts of intramuscular fat (IMF) than those from HOVE and CON hams. The feeding background affected the tocopherol levels in dry-cured hams as those from MON and HOVE pigs had significantly higher levels of α-tocopherol than those from CON pigs whereas the extensive feeding provided muscles from MON pigs with significantly higher levels of γ-tocopherol than the experimental diets did to CON and HOVE pigs. The HOVE diet significantly increased the levels of oleic acid in Iberian dry-cured hams with these levels being similar to the oleic acid levels found in MON hams and significantly higher than those in CON hams. Compared to dry-cured hams from CON pigs, those from MON and HOVE pigs exhibited a higher oxidative stability as a likely result of a most favourable fatty acid composition and the presence of higher tocopherol levels. The principal component analysis (PCA) successfully discriminated between dry-cured hams from pigs fed different finishing diets.

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Life Sciences Agricultural and Biological Sciences Food Science
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