Application of mediterranean ingredients for the bromatological improvement of Clean Label animal origin products

Abstract

Animal origin products and their derivatives are perishable foods that suffer a gradual loss of bromatological quality during their conservation, both under refrigerated and frozen storage. It is for this reason that since the last century and until nowadays the widespread use of synthetic additives (sulphites, BHA, BHT, and nitrifying agents) has been extended in order to extend the shelf-life of this kind of products. However, the excessive consumption of these ingredients has reported the possibility of developing various chronic diseases. In this Doctoral Thesis the development of animal origin Clean label products has been approached carrying out different strategies for their bromatological improvement and contributing to the knowledge within the field of natural origin antioxidants and antimicrobial agents. To reach this goal, two ways of incorporating antioxidant compounds have been studied, one endogenous and the other exogenous, and the following objectives have been pursued, which have formed the five assays that have been developed during the present Thesis. - Study of bioavailability of Zn and Se minerals in an in vitro Caco-2 cell model through endogenous enrichment through diet and exogenous enrichment through the incorporation of HXT and EVOO in chicken meat emulsions. - Study of exogenous enrichment of frankfurters by incorporating HXT, nuts, and EVOO. - Shelf-life study (365 days) of frozen chicken nuggets enriched endogenously in Zn and Se minerals and exogenously in natural extracts (pomegranate, grape seed, hydroxytyrosol, rosemary, and harpagophyte). - Shelf-life study (150 days) of dry-cured Spanish "chorizo" exogenously enriched in natural extracts: o Determination of the antioxidant and antimicrobial capacity of all the extracts used: citrus, rosemary, acerola, paprika, garlic, oregano, lettuce, arugula, spinach, chard, celery, beetroot, and watercress. o Study of protection against protein oxidation of an oxidised pork meat model system, after incorporation of the Mediterranean ingredients under study. o Shelf-life study and evaluation of the bromatological loss during 150 days (25 days of ripening and 125 days under refrigerate storage). - Shelf-life study of hake preparations "hamburger" type (14 days) exogenously enriched in natural extracts: o Determination of the antioxidant and antimicrobial capacity of the extracts used: citrus, rosemary, acerola, Hydroxytyrosol, and pomegranate. o Shelf-life study and evaluation of the bromatological loss during 14 days under refrigerated and aerobiosis storage. To reach these goals, a mineral bioavailability test was carried out on a Caco-2 cell model of the human intestine in the presence of HXT. Otherwise, all the extracts used were characterized, with significant antioxidant and antimicrobial capacity, as well as the Clean label products elaborated using them. Finally, different shelf-life tests were developed in which different deterioration parameters such as colour (CIELab), pH, lipid oxidation, protein oxidation, microbiological development, and autolytic changes (in the case of fish) were evaluated, together with their organoleptic quality, in order to also evaluate the possibility of commercialization of this type of product. Obtained results from the previously described assays gave rise to at least five new ways of obtaining animal origin Clean label foods. Consequently, in the present Doctoral Thesis, synthetic additives have been substituted by different ways, above all through the use of natural extracts obtained as Food Industry by -products from traditional ingredients of the Mediterranean Diet rich in bioactive compounds, whose consumption has shown a significant improvement in human health, such as phenolic compounds. Furthermore, this substitution did not affect the sensory quality of the developed products, avoiding oxidative damage, and microbiological deterioration.?