Dry-cured bacons were processed using pig bacon belly as material by dry-salting and drying–ripening.
Lipolysis and lipid oxidation in intramuscular lipids were studied by evaluating the changes in lipid composition,
lipolytic enzymes and lipoxygenase (LOX) activities, peroxide value (POV) and TBARS during
processing. Lipid composition showed a significant decrease (p < 0.05) in phospholipids and an increase
(p < 0.05) in free fatty acids (r = 0.85, p = 0.0004). All lipolytic activities decreased (p < 0.05) with
increasing process time. Acid lipase showed higher activity than did neutral lipase (p < 0.05) throughout
the processing. LOX activity increased significantly during salting (p < 0.01) and thereafter decreased.
High salt content inhibited acid lipase and phospholipase activities but promoted LOX activity. Both
POV and TBARS decreased (p < 0.05) with temperature rising during the last ripening period, suggesting
that rising temperature in this period could lower oxidation indices in products. LOX was closely correlated
with TBARS (r = 0.94) but not with POV (r = 0.36), indicating that LOX could facilitate lipid secondary
oxidation.