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Up to date data base about using of Meat as a functional food

Review Article | DOI: https://doi.org/10.31579/2640-1053/217

Up to date data base about using of Meat as a functional food

  • Fahim A. Shaltout  ID

Food Control, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Benha University, Egypt.

*Corresponding Author: Fahim A. Shaltout. Food Control, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Benha University, Egypt.

Citation: Fahim A. Shaltout, (2024), Up to date data base about using of Meat as a functional food, J Cancer Research and Cellular Therapeutics, 8(7); DOI:10.31579/2640-1053/217

Copyright: © 2024, Fahim A. Shaltout. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Received: 15 November 2024 | Accepted: 22 November 2024 | Published: 29 November 2024

Keywords: ingredients; vegetables; fibres; extracts; traditional meat industry; consumer demand; agrofood

Abstract

A number of studies have attempted to show how the addition of the various ingredients, the vegetables, the fibres, the extracts, as well as the removal of the fats and the additives could transform the conventional perception of the meat and the meat products types into one of healthy living. This article examines potential future trends in the agrofood industry and provides an updated version of recent studies on the subject. It analyses the changes that have taken place in the traditional meat industry as the agrofood industry's global forces increasingly focus it on the development and manufacturing of the functional foods types.

Introduction

The trend toward functional foods types has led to the publication of several articles describing studies of the effects of including 1or more ingredients with functional properties in various types of food, within which the meat and the meat products deserve special attention. The object of including functional ingredients in the case of the meat is not only concerned with providing it with certain desirable properties but an attempt to change its image in these health-conscious days. The meat industry is one of the most important in the world and, whether as a result of the consumer demand or because of the ferocious competition in the industry, research into new products is continuous. However, such research and the launch of new products is directed at providing healthy alternatives to what has frequently been accused of causing a variety of pathologies (1-6). 

This unfortunate image derives mainly from the content of fat, saturated fatty acids, and cholesterol and their association with cardiovascular diseases, some types of cancer, obesity, and so forth. Regarding obesity, it is very important to understand how the meat or the meat products affects biological and physiological mechanisms of appetite, satiety, and long-term behavior. The meat and the meat products types show highly satiating characteristics and, in this respect, the functional foods types could be a food-related solution because these types of products could be designed to be less calorifically dense and while remaining more highly satiating and tasty. In this way, the food types industry in general, the meat and related products types industry in particular, could contribute to making lives easier and more active. The meat is associated with cholesterol, and although it is now accepted that the dietary intake of cholesterol has little bearing on the plasma cholesterol, for consumers this is another negative influence on the meat’s health image (7-12). 

In some cases, the consumer is confused by multiple messages from multiple sources, public skepticism about expert opinion, the public misunderstanding of reports on scientific findings and results, increased media coverage accompanied by the recommendations for corporate marketing strategies and the health claims, and competing real-life and lifestyle demands. Furthermore, the food packaging could have a very important influence on the food types intake. The underlying idea behind functional food is to reduce the prevalence of chronic diseases by curbing the consumption of habitually consumed foods. The formulation of foods types according to the beneficial effects that their non-nutritional ingredients may have for the consumer has become an area of great interest for the large food types companies, including the meat sector (13-18). Although there is no exact definition of what a functional food is and many consider that it is a concept still under development, among the most widely accepted definition from a European point of view is that mentioned, namely that “a food may be considered functional if it contains a component (be it nutrient or not) with a selective effect on one or various functions of the organism, whose positive effects justify that it can be regarded as functional (physiological) or even healthy.” A food can be regarded as functional if it is satisfactorily demonstrated to beneficially affect 1 or more target functions in the body, beyond adequate nutritional effects, in a way that is relevant to either improved health or well-being and/or to a reduction in the risk of disease. A functional food must remain food and it must demonstrate its effects in amounts that can normally be expected to be consumed in the diet: it is not a pill or a capsule, but part of the normal food pattern. European consumers are more critical and less unconditional than Americans with this type of product because Europeans have recently suffered a sequence of food safety scares. Among the countries in the world, perception is very different; for example, in Denmark, consumers are very suspicious of functional foods types, which they judge as “unnatural and impure” (19- 24).

As far as meat is concerned, the modifications to which it may be subjected to confer functional properties on it are based on modifications to the feed an animal receives or on postmortem manipulation of the carcass. By the 1st means, the lipid, the fatty acid, and vitamin E content can be modified, whereas by the 2nd, fat can be removed by mechanical processes. Regarding the meat products types, efforts are mainly directed toward their reformulation by modifying the lipid and the fatty acid content, and/or by adding a series of functional ingredients (the fiber, the vegetal proteins, the monounsaturated or the polyunsaturated fatty acids, the vitamins, calcium, the phytochemicals, and so forth). The meat and the meat products types are essential for a balanced diet, although it must be remembered that they are susceptible to modifications to give them a “healthier” appearance(25-30).

The object of this article is to evaluate the effect of adding the func-tional ingredients on the physical, chemical, and sensory characteristics of foods types, especially the meat and its related products types, as understood from recently published scientific articles. Functional modifications in the meat and the meat products types The meat and the meat products types are essential in the diet of developed countries. Their principal components, besides water, are proteins and fats, with a substantial contribution of vitamins and minerals of a high degree of bioavailability. Both the meat and its associated products types can be modified by adding the ingredients considered beneficial for the health or by eliminating or reducing the components that are considered harmful. In this way, a series of the foods types can be obtained which, without altering their base, are considered “healthy (31- 36).”

The Modification of the fatty acid and cholesterol levels in the meat

The meat is in a major source of fat in the diet, especially of saturated fatty acids (SFA), which have been implicated in diseases associated with modern life, especially in developed countries. The ratio of n- 6: n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) is a risk factor in cancers and coronary heart disease, especially the formation of blood clots leading to a heart attack. Levels of n-3 PUFA in pigs fed a linseed diet produced higher levels of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) after conditioning for 10 days followed by simulated retail display for a further 7 days, although the display period had no impact on the sensorial characteristics such as muscle color (saturation) (37-42).

The selection of breeds and genetic lines within breeds, changes in animal feeding practices, including some feed additives (probiotics, antibiotics, and so forth), and intervention in animal metabolism (anabolic implants, -agonist, growth hormone, etc.) are the main tools used to achieve a reduction in carcass fat content, although many such practices are not authorized in the European Union. Compared unweaned lambs and lambs weaned at 40 d of age, fattened at pasture and slaughtered at 28 kg live weight, to observe the effect on the meat quality and fatty acid composition, the weaning status was seen to affect the fatness and quality characteristics of the meat (of lambs raised at pasture) more than the type of feed. A further decrease in the intramuscular fat content would decrease the meat quality attributes, especially juiciness and flavor, which are already impaired in some cases. Variations in the fatty acid composition have an important effect on firmness or softness of the fat in meat, especially the subcutaneous and the intermuscular (carcass) fats but the intramuscular (the marbling) fat (43-48).

The effect of fatty acids on the meat shelf life is explained by the propensity of unsaturated fatty acids to oxidise, leading to the development of the rancidity as display times increases. Changes in fatty acid composition have not been directly linked to changes in myoglobin oxidation and muscle color in many of the pork studies. In the studies of the rabbit meat, confirmed that meat enrichment in n- 3 PUFA did not cause any increase in the oxidation level. The -linolenic  acid–vitamin E diet favored the accumulation of long chain polyunsaturated n-3 in the meat and improved its oxidative stability and consequently its nutritional value. in studies about feeding linseed to increase the n-3 PUFA in pork meat, confirmed the potential of pork to supply valuable n-3 PUFA to the human diet, finding that it may be readily manipulated to increase the concentrations. The conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) has been recognized as having anticarcinogenic and antioxidative properties in several animal models. The concentration of CLA was significantly increased by the substitution of fat. Storage for 14 d had little effect on the CLA concentration in beef patties. Substituted CLA sources for the fat improved the color stability possibly by inhibition of the lipid oxidation and the oxymioglobin oxidation (49- 54).

The Addition of the vegetal oils to the meat products types

The olive oil is the most monounsaturated vegetable oil. It has a high biological value, and its consumption is related to a decreased risk of the heart disease and the breast cancer. The vegetable oils have been used as partial substitutes of the pork backfat in the low-fat frankfurters and other types of the cooked product giving rise to products types with more adequate fatty acid profiles and cholesterol levels than the traditional ones. The studies concerning the use of olive oil to replace (0% to 100%) the pork backfat for the production of the low-fat frankfurters, The higher levels of the olive oil had the lowest acceptability, although the color attributes were unaffected. The manufactured traditional Spanish sausage, replacing 0% to 30% of pork backfat by the pre-emulsified olive oil. The oleic and linoleic acid levels increased and the cholesterol content was reduced, while the sensorial characteristics, (the texture and the color) were comparable with those of commercial products types. The results pointed to the possibility of replacing the pork backfat with the olive oil (up to 25%) to increase the nutritional status. The addition of the olive oil to sausages was more effective than using the vacuum-storing methods in avoiding the lipid oxidation during the storage and increased the monounsaturated fatty acids fraction (MUFA) (55-d 60).

The replacement of 20% pork backfat with the olive oil does not affect the weight losses and makes the sausages lighter in the color and more yellow. The product has an acceptable odor and taste but unacceptable appearance because of the intensively wrinkled surfaces and the development of casing the hardening. The replacement of 20% pork backfat by the olive oil in the high and reduced fat Greek sausages led to significant decrease in the oxidation process and significantly increased the MUFA content in “salami” products types, The partial substitution of the pork backfat by extra virgin olive oil did not substantially affect the chemical, the physical, and the sensory characteristics of the products types, with the exception of the water activity and the firmness. The addition of the extra virgin olive oil, which is rich in the unsaturated fatty acids, did not reduce the shelf life in the terms of lipid oxidation, probably due to the antioxidant effect of both the polyphenols and the tocopherols. The sensory analyses did not point to differences from the traditional formulation.

An alternative to using this vegetable oil, which has a high unsaturated fatty acid content and is liquid at room temperature, is to use the interesterified vegetable oils (IVOs). These oils can be used as a fat replacer to modify the fatty acid composition of the frankfurters and the Turkish type salami without any detrimental changes in the sensory characteristics. The produced frankfurters with IVOs prepared from the palm, the cottonseed, and the olive oils and found that replacing the beef fat (10%) with IVOs (60% to 100%) led to a significant increase in the oleic and the linoleic acid content and the PUFA: SFA ratio without any change in the appearance, the color, the texture, the flavor, or other sensory characteristics.

The addition of the high oleic sunflower oil to the low-fat frankfurters as a source of the monounsaturated fat. The resulting product was healthier due the higher contents of the unsaturated and the essential fatty acids, without any negative sensory characteristics. The Linseed oil is another source of the fat. The substitution of the pork backfat with the linseed oil in the manufacture of the dry-fermented sausages decreased the n- 6:n-3 ratio (from 14.1 to 2.1) as a consequence of the increase in - linolenic acid, this had a relevant influence on the nutritional quality of the products types, without substantially modifying the flavor or the oxidation(61- 66).

The Addition of the soy

The Plant-derived proteins from the soybeans have been used in traditional comminuted meat products types (30

Conclusion

The Meat and the meat products types can be altered by removing or lowering ingredients that are deemed detrimental or by introducing ingredients that are thought to be healthful. By adding these components to the meat products types, processors can enhance the goods' nutritional value and overall wellness. The usage of these compounds leads to goods with inferior sensory and physicochemical quality—particularly when they are added in excessive amounts. The findings indicate that a wide range of compounds may be added to the meat products types to provide them functional qualities, but further investigation is required to comprehend how these chemicals interact with the components of the meat products types and hence enhance their safety for possible industrial uses.

Conflicts of Interest

The author declare no conflicts of interest

References

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