In the research area of healthier meat products a possible trend is to replace high energy density fat in formulations with substances providing less energy than fat. The aim of the producers is to obtain a product having maximum yield with similar or same organoleptic properties and structure like well-known full-fat analogues. Properties of high fat products can be restored with the use of different fat substitutes, non-meat protein, and/or hydrocolloids or starch, owing to their stabilization abilities, fat coating, and water binding, respectively. The review is aimed to summarize the effect of different fat substitutes on the processing quality, textural characteristics, and sensory properties of comminuted meat products with low lipid content.

The amount of volatile bioactive compounds of garlic (Allium sativum L.) can be modified by techniques that involve disintegration of cells or/and heat transfer. In this study, after crushing of garlic, the amount of organic sulfides increased in the headspace in the function of time (P < 0.05), while the amount of allicin was not influenced (P = 0.249). Increment of heating temperature enhanced the formation of vinyldithiins, diallyl sulfide (DAMS) and methyl propenyl disulfide (MPDS) but had no significant effect (P ≥ 0.05) on the rate of allicin formation. Heat treatment of garlic at 80°C for 10 min hampered the post-treatment formation of most organic sulfides at room temperature, while heating at 60°C for 10 min did not hamper completely their formation during storage at room temperature. Cooking intact garlic cloves resulted in much less organosulfur compounds than crushed garlic of the same weight (P < 0.001).

The fat content of Bologna-type turkey sausages was partially replaced with pea fiber or potato starch. Textural properties of full fat turkey sausage were mainly restored in sausages when fat was partially replaced with some levels of pea fiber (0.6, 1.2%) or potato starch (1.9%). Authors observed significant correlation (P<0.01) between instrumentally measured values of hardness and chewiness and sensory ratings of low fat sausages.

Climate change will lead to increasingly hot summers where the temperature rises above the thermoneutral range of pigs; as a result, they get exposed to heat stress. One of the most damaging consequences of long-lasting heat stress is oxidative stress arising from the increasing level of reactive oxygen species. In order to eliminate oxidative stress, metabolites that are needed for maintaining life and growth may get depleted, which, in chronic cases in particular, negatively affects the economy of meat production. The effect of plant-originated phytogenic feed additives with high antioxidant content may be beneficial to pigs in reducing the effects of oxidative stress induced by heat stress. In this study, a range of methods that assess the effects of phytogenic feed additives on heat stress are reviewed. The main focus is presenting an overview of the investigational possibilities of the antioxidative system and feed uptake and utilization via traditional methods and molecular biological investigations. Furthermore, methodological aspects of sampling are taken into consideration in order to select the best methods for determining the effect of phytogenic feed supplementation on heat-stressed pigs.