Vitamin E is a fat-soluble antioxidant, therefore, it can be stored in any fat depot in the body, where it exerts a potent chain-breaking antioxidant effect. Moreover, the antioxidant activity of vitamin E-like compounds is also present in meat post mortem. The deposition of tocopherol in the muscle depends on the dosage, the source, and the period of supplementation, so different dosage-time combinations have been developed. Vitamin E does not affect production parameters if minimum requirements for function and growth are satisfied, but it could influence lamb fatty acid profile. During display, it protects PUFA from degradation, reducing lipid oxidation and, therefore, delaying discolouration. Furthermore, vitamin E would indirectly affect the development of lamb aroma by reducing protein and lipid oxidation. To facilitate optimal supplementation rates by producers and retailers, the present paper reviews vitamin E chemistry, biochemistry, nutrition and its ability to maintain lamb quality.
23 May 2016 in European Food Research and Technology
This study aimed to investigate how the freshness before frozen storage affect the quality and sensory characteristics of seabream in different commercial presentations and to correlate the findings with free amino acids composition. The fish were slaughtered, allocated to three processing treatments (whole, gutted and filleted) and stored at refrigeration (0 ±1 °C) for different times (5, 9, 11 and 18 days) before one-month frozen storage (-30 °C). After this time, physicochemical (pH, TVB-N, TBARS and free amino acids), bacterial count and sensory evaluation (Torry Index & Quality Descriptive Analysis -QDA-) were studied. Significant differences were found among treatments over time for TVB-N, TBARS and bacterial growth. The quality index (Torry) exhibited a gradual decrease. QDA showed that fillets had the lowest assessment. Free amino acids contents varied significantly during frozen storage with a particular behavior that depended on the previous treatment applied and the fish freshness degree (elapsed days before frozen).
Fish provides a low-caloric content, polyunsaturated fatty acids, many essential trace elements and is also a rich source of protein, ranging from 10% to 25%. Therefore, the production of FPH (fish protein hydrolysates) is of great interest, as the resulting products exhibit a variety of important bioactive and technological properties, making them potential ingredients for new functional foods and supplements. The aim of this review was to compile and analyze information on enzymatic hydrolysates, with particular emphasis on those derived from fish by-products, as a potential ingredient in human nutrition. Their nutritional characteristics, food safety aspects, bioactive properties, technological attributes, key influencing factors, and applications in food products were evaluated. The findings revealed that these properties are influenced by several factors, such as the raw material, enzymes used, degree of hydrolysis, and the molecular weight of the peptides, which need to be considered as a whole. In conclusion, the gathered information suggests that it is possible to obtain high-value products through enzymatic hydrolysis, even when using fish by-products. However, although numerous studies focused on FPH derived from fish muscle, research on by-products remains limited. Further investigation is needed to determine whether the behavior of FPH from by-products differs from that of muscle-derived FPH.