The oxidative stability and sensory characteristics of meat from pigs fed natural antioxidant

The aim of this study is to evaluate in pigs the effect of dietary polyphenols on the oxidative stability and sensory characteristics of Longissimus Dorsi (LD) muscle at two different storage time. Eighteen LD muscle, from pigs fed control diet and diet supplemented with 6 mg polyphenols, from a natural extract of Verbenaceae (AjuteTM) / kg feed, from weaning to slaughter (110 kg live weight) were selected and frozen at -20° C pending lab analysis. After thawing for 24 h at 4°C, the LD muscles were cooked in a oven at 150° C (to a core temperature of 70 ° C). After cooling the entire LD muscles were cut into 3mm thickness slices. The samples were evaluated for sensory characteristics and oxidative stability at two different storage time at 4° C: 12 (T1) and 36 hours (T2). The LD slices were warmed at 60° C before the sensory evaluation, using Descriptive analysis (DA). Eight judges were selected and trained to participate in the DA panel. The DA analysis was organized in 3 steps: terminology generation/development phase, definition and use of the reference standards, and individual evaluation and booth set-up training scorecard development. Moreover the oxidative stability, assessed using thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), were determined. The flavour of rancid was the only descriptor affected by the time of storage (P < 0.001): Delta score for rancid descriptor (T2-T1) resulted lower (P < 0.047) in LD from pigs fed diet supplemented with natural antioxidant . Raw LD samples enriched in natural antioxidant showed a lower (P<0.001) TBARS values compared to the control. The TBARS values tended to be lower (P = 0.067) in cooked pork samples enriched in natural antioxidant. The use of natural extracts may determine an improvement of meat quality due to the increase of antioxidant reserves and therefore a longer shelf life.