In order for the radical scavenging antioxidants to act efficient
in the application of antioxidant active packaging, a further inves-
tigation of the radical formation during the HP treatment was
undertaken. The tendency to form radicals during heat incubation
was examined in meat samples immediately after pressure treat-
ment and samples that had not been pressurised. The same ten-
dency to radical formation was found in all 4 types of samples
(Table 1), and suggests that high pressure treatment does not
immediately affect the oxidative stability of the meat. The mincing
of the meat and the procedure by which the concentration of rad-
icals is measured involves a certain cell disruption upon homoge-
nisation, assuming that the level of release and active enzymes
and phospholipids is similar for all samples. It is shown (Fig. 3) that some time is needed in order for the radical formation in the meat
patties to proceed, indicating a certain kinetic restrain on the initi-
ation of lipid oxidation by high pressure.