Lipid oxidation accelerates quality deterioration in muscle‐based foods (fish, red meat, and poultry), resulting in off‐odors/flavors, color problems, texture defects, and safety concerns. Adding antioxidants is one approach to control lipid oxidation, and several delivery strategies have been applied, such as supplementing antioxidants to the feed, direct mixing into minces, or, for whole muscle pieces; spraying, glazing, and injection. However, some issues linked to these technologies hinder their wide utilization, such as low effectiveness, noncompatibility with clean label, and off‐flavor. These shortcomings have promoted the development of new antioxidant delivery technologies. In this review, the main focus is on the principles, characteristics, and implementation of five novel antioxidant delivery methods in different types of muscle food products. Their advantages and drawbacks are also summarized, plus comments about future trends in this area. Among novel routes to deliver antioxidants to muscle foods are, for whole tissues, recyclable dipping solutions; for minces, encapsulation; and, for both minces and whole tissues, cross‐processing with nonmuscle antioxidant‐containing raw materials as well as applications of edible films/coatings and active packaging. Advantages of these technologies comprise, for example, low price, the possibility to control the antioxidant release rate, overcoming strong aromas from natural antioxidants, and allowing antioxidant‐containing raw materials from the food industry to be valorized, providing an opportunity for more circular food production.

• Lipolysis and lipid oxidation occur in both meat and meat products. • Lipolysis can be anti- or pro-oxidative depending of various factors. • Phospholipase A2 inhibits hemoglobin-mediated lipid oxidation in washed muscle. • Depletion of lipid hydroperoxides is one possible antioxidant mechanism. • Free fatty acids convert hemoglobin into a low-oxidative form, hemichrome.

Color is an important characteristic of food. Over the last 15 years, more attention has been paid to natural colorants because of the rising demand for clean‐label food products. Anthocyanins, which are a group of phytochemicals responsible for the purple, blue or red hues of many plants, offer a market advantage. In addition, anthocyanin‐rich foods are associated with protection against cardiovascular disease, thrombosis, diabetes, cancer, microbial‐based disorders, neurological disorders, and vision ailments. However, the real health value of anthocyanins, whether as a natural colorant or a functional ingredient, is dependent on the ultimate bioaccessibility and bioavailability in the human body. Many animal and human clinical studies revealed that, after intake of anthocyanin‐rich foods or anthocyanin extracts, only trace amounts (< 1% of ingested content) of anthocyanins or their predicted metabolites were detected in plasma after a standard blood draw, which was indicative of low bioavailability of anthocyanins. Protein binding to anthocyanins is a strategy that has recently been reported to enhance the ultimate bioactivity, bioaccessibility, and bioavailability of anthocyanins as compared to anthocyanins delivered without a protein carrier. Therefore, in this review, we address anthocyanin properties in food processing and digestion, anthocyanin‐protein complexes used in food matrices, and changes in the bioaccessibility and bioavailability of anthocyanins when bound into anthocyanin‐protein complexes in foods. Finally, we summarize the challenges and prospects of this delivery system for anthocyanin pigments.

Lipid oxidation is a major cause of quality deterioration that decreases the shelf-life of muscle-based foods (red meat, poultry, and fish), in which heme proteins, particularly hemoglobin and myoglobin, are the primary pro-oxidants. Due to increasing consumer concerns over synthetic chemicals, extensive research has been carried out on natural antioxidants, especially plant polyphenols. The conventional opinion suggests that polyphenols inhibit lipid oxidation of muscle foods primarily owing to their strong hydrogen-donating and transition metal-chelating activities. Recent developments in analytical techniques (e.g., protein crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, fluorescence anisotropy, and molecular docking simulation) allow deeper understanding of the molecular interaction of polyphenols with heme proteins, phospholipid membrane, reactive oxygen species, and reactive carbonyl species; hence, novel hypotheses regarding their antioxidant mechanisms have been formulated. In this review, we summarize five direct and three indirect pathways by which polyphenols inhibit heme protein-mediated lipid oxidation in muscle foods. We also discuss the relation between chemical structures and functions of polyphenols as antioxidants.