Oxidative stability of pork meat lipids as related to high-oleic sunflower oil and vitamin E diet supplementation and storage conditions

The aim of this research work was to evaluate the oxidative stability of pork meat lipids as related to dietary supplementation with high-oleic sunflower oil (HOSO) and/or alpha-tocopheryl acetate (VE), as well as the influence of storage conditions. Four different diets (control; HOSO; VE; HOSO + VE), were fed to swines until slaughtering. Meat slices were packed in vessels with transparent shrink film and exposed to white fluorescent light for 3 days at 8 degrees C. HOSO supplementation increased oleic acid content of pork meat. The highest levels of peroxide value (PV) and cholesterol oxidation products (COPs) were detected in the control group, whereas HOSO-enriched diets displayed the highest thiobarbituric reactive substance (TBARs) content. After storage under light exposure, pork meat slices exhibited a decrease of PV, which resulted in an increasing trend of TBARs and COPs. Feeding enrichment with both HOSO and vitamin E can be, therefore, used as an appropriate supplementation strategy to produce pork meat with a suitable oxidative stability. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.