5. Antioxidant food ingredient strategies
5.1. Product quality consideration
The demonstrated efficacy of natural antioxidants, in the form of either
a pure extract, a blend of active components, or a powder of the
original seeds, leaves, etc., to retard lipid oxidation and flavor deterioration
in meat products has stimulated a broad interest within the meat
industry to explore nontraditional food ingredient strategies. The attention
to natural antioxidants is heightened by the recent global trend to
gradually phase out synthetic food additives that have traditionally be
utilized in the food chain. Existing and potential natural antioxidant
technologies applied to meat for shelf-life protection are focused on
plant-derived compounds that target primarily on fresh or freshly prepared
meat (for review, see Karre et al., 2013; Kumar et al., 2015;
Shah et al., 2014). In comparison, the application of natural antioxidants
in ‘further processed’ meats, which are subjected to considerable muscle
structure alteration, protein extraction, treatment with functional
ingredients such as salt and phosphate, and different thermal processes,
has been much less investigated.