In order to contribute to the understanding of pressure-induced
lipid oxidation and to optimise the antioxidant active packaging,
the mechanism by which the HP induces the lipid oxidation was
further studied. It has been suggested that the pressure induces
the release of iron from myoglobin, thereby facilitating metal initi-
ated lipid oxidation (Cheah & Ledward, 1995). On the other hand,
Orlien et al. (2000) showed that the effect of high pressure on lipid
oxidation in chicken meat breast did not originate from a release of
free iron or from a conformational change of metmyoglobin during
the HP treatment. Another assumption is that lipid oxidation may
be initiated by membrane damage of the muscle cells, which can
release prooxidative compounds and enzymes together with easily
oxidised compounds such as unsaturated polar lipids.