Parma ham enriched in omega-3 fatty acids as functional food : a sensory evaluation by Italian and French panels

The aim of the study is to investigate the quality of functional food as dry-cured hams enriched in n-3 PUFA, analyzing the consumer preference orientation between two panels from different countries (Italy and France), in order to establish their degree of acceptance. A consumer test was carried out by the two country panels of 100 consumers on 2 type of dry-cured hams: hams coming from pigs (Large White x Landrace x Pietrain) reared in France (INRA Centre de Saint Gilles) and fed a diet supplemented with sunflower oil (2.5%) (S) or an experimental diet containing 5% whole extruded linseed (5%) (L), which supply respectively a high content of n-6 and n-3 PUFA. The animals were slaughtered at 160 ± 9.2 kg bodyweight and the hams were delivered to the Stazione Sperimentale per l’Industria delle Conserve Alimentari of Parma for 16 months ripening. The consumers were requested to report its preference judgment for 7 descriptors as appearance, fat and muscle color, smell, salty, taste, consistency and overall acceptability. Each single descriptor was evaluated by using an hedonic scale assigning a score between 1 (absence of sensation) and 9 (extremely intense). Fatty acid composition was analyzed on whole slice of the dry-cured hams. The linseed diet increased (P < 0.05) the content of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in the whole slice of dry-cured ham. Hams from the control group showed greater values of LA (P < 0.01), total n-6 PUFA (P < 0.01), and n-6:n-3 PUFA ratio (P < 0.001), and lower values of ALA (P < 0.001), EPA (P < 0.05), DPA (P < 0.05), and total n-3 PUFA (P < 0.001) than hams from the linseed group. The sensory consumer test by both the panels indicated that linseed enriched dry-cured ham had the lowest score of acceptance, purchase intent, odor, taste and overall acceptability descriptors; the French panel discriminated also the consistency descriptor that collected the lowest score in linseed enriched dry-cured hams. These data suggest that the use of extruded linseed for pig feed is a good way to improve the nutritional quality of long-cured pork products but could be limited by negative influences on the sensory characteristics of dry-cured ham.