As was shown in Table 2, no signifi

As was shown in Table 2, no significant differences in either
total amounts of saturated (SFA), monounsaturated (MUFA) or
polyunsaturated (PUFA) fatty acids were found between the SSloin
and S-loin at the end of salting. After 8 and 13 days of
drying-ripening, the free fatty acid contents were significantly
higher in SS-loin than in S-loin (P < 0.05). In the final products, no
significant differences (P > 0.05) were observed in the contents of
MUFA and PUFA between the SS-loin and S-loin, whereas the SFA
of SS-loinwas 0.56% more than that of S-loin (P < 0.05), suggesting
a slight trend toward lipolysis in the SS-loin at the end of processing.
In contrast to this observation, Armenteros et al. (2009)
found that the dry-cured loins salted with 50% NaCl/50% KCl and
with 55% NaCl, 25% KCl, 15% CaCl2 and 5% MgCl2 did not show
differences in the SFA, MUFA or PUFA content. This can be
explained by the introduction of L-his and L-lys into the salt substitute.
The present result was supported by the study of Los and
Murata (1998), who found that histidine and iron ions constituted
the catalytic centre of the fatty acid desaturases. The addition of
histidine might cause a competitive binding to iron ions at the
catalytic centre, resulting in a reduction of fatty acid desaturase
activity.