Meat Products as Functional Foods: A Review

This review deals with the implications of meat and meat products for human health. It analyses the effect of the presence or absence of various factors: fat, fatty acid composition, cholesterol, calorific value, salt, nitrite or lipid oxidation products that can cause health problems. Bearing in mind these considerations, it then describes the strategies used in animal production, treatment of meat raw material and reformulation of meat products to obtain healthier meat and meat products. Functional ingredients are responsible for making functional foods work, and this review therefore discusses the scope of current meat technology to favour the presence of various active-food components, and provide an additional physiological benefit beyond that of meeting basic nutritional needs.

Low fat, dry fermented sausages were prepared with a fat content close to 50% and 25% of the original amount. The batch with the smallest proportion of fat was less tender, less springy and was gummier than the batch with the highest proportion. However, it was still considered acceptable by the panel of judges. The 25% batch was supplemented with different amounts of soluble dietetic fibre (inulin) as both a powder and in aqueous solution. Ripening was followed by physico-chemical and microbiological analysis. Sensory analysis and texture profile analysis were performed to evaluate the effect of the inulin addition. Results obtained indicated an overall improvement in the sensory properties due to a softer texture and tenderness, springiness and adhesiveness similar to the conventional high fat sausage. Thus, with the addition of inulin a low calorie product (30% of the original), enriched with soluble dietetic fibre (10% approximatively) can be obtained.