Improving Meat Quality through Antioxidant Incorporation

Animal fat is primarily stored in fatty tissue, which can be further subdivided into adipose fat, subcutaneous fat, intermuscular fat, and marbling fat. The fat found within the muscles is known as marbling, and it helps produce a favorable texture (Lawrie & Ledward, 2014 ). Depending on the animal’s fat excretion and the preparation method, a given piece of meat may include varying amounts of intermuscular and depot fat. Saturated fatty acids (SFA) are commonly thought to make up the bulk of animal fat, whereas over 50% of the fatty acids in meat are unsaturated (Lawrie & Ledward, 2014 ). Lipids in meat typically comprise less than half saturated fatty acids (beef 50–52%) and as much as 70% unsaturated fatty acids (Valsta, Tapanainen & Männistö, 2005 (link)).
The grinding, cooking, and storing steps in the processing of meat products expose lipids to the air, which causes them to oxidize quickly and irreversibly. Meat and meat products lose their desirable flavor and texture because of rancidity, turn brown, and create hazardous substances including malondialdehyde and cholesterol oxidation products due to lipid oxidation (Choe et al., 2014 (link)). The addition of various fruit and waste extract may help in retarding lipid oxidation and reducing the fat content of the meat products. In one study, to a more significant extent, persimmon peel extracts prevented lipid oxidation of pork patties while they were being refrigerated (Choe, Kim & Kim, 2017 (link)). In another study, inulin from chicory root was able to reduce the fat at a significant level in pork and chicken meatball (Montoya et al., 2022 (link)). Thus incorporation of fruit and vegetable waste and their extract in meat products may help in slowing down lipid oxidation and rancidity.