Meat and meat products are a fundamental part of the human diet. The protein and vitamin content, as well as essential fatty acids, gives them an appropriate composition to complete the nutritional requirements. However, meat constituents are susceptible to degradation processes. Among them, the most important, after microbial deterioration, are oxidative processes, which affect lipids, pigments, proteins and vitamins. During these reactions a sensory degradation of the product occurs, causing consumer rejection. In addition, there is a nutritional loss that leads to the formation of toxic substances, so the control of oxidative processes is of vital importance for the meat industry. Nonetheless, despite lipid oxidation being widely investigated for decades, the complex reactions involved in the process, as well as the different pathways and factors that influenced them, make that lipid oxidation mechanisms have not yet been completely understood. Thus, this article reviews the fundamental mechanisms of lipid oxidation, the most important oxidative reactions, the main factors that influence lipid oxidation, and the routine methods to measure compounds derived from lipid oxidation in meat.

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Seaweeds have been used since ancient times as food, mainly by Asian countries, while in Western countries, their main application has been as gelling agents and colloids for the food, pharmaceuticals, and the cosmetic industry. Seaweeds are a good source of nutrients such as proteins, vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber. Polyphenols, polysaccharides, and sterols, as well as other bioactive molecules, are mainly responsible for the healthy properties associated with seaweed. Antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and anti-diabetic properties are attributed to these compounds. If seaweeds are compared to terrestrial plants, they have a higher proportion of essential fatty acids as eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA) fatty acids. In addition, there are several secondary metabolites that are synthesized by algae such as terpenoids, oxylipins, phlorotannins, volatile hydrocarbons, and products of mixed biogenetic origin. Therefore, algae can be considered as a natural source of great interest, since they contain compounds with numerous biological activities and can be used as a functional ingredient in many technological applications to obtain functional foods.

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Frankfurter sausages were reformulated to produce better lipid compositions by replacing the pork backfat by healthy oils. Sausages in, three different batches were manufactured: control (CO) with 100% of pork backfat, and modified sausages where the pork backfat was replaced with 50% by microencapsulated fish oil (ME) and by unencapsulated olive and fish oil mixture (OM). The ME treatments showed the lowest pH, fat and energy values and the highest protein and carbohydrates levels. The fat replacement by oils significantly ( < 0.05) affected to color parameters, since the ME batches presented the highest L* and b* values, whereas the OM treatments showed the highest values of a* values. As expected, the replacement of backfat by oils also greatly modified the fatty acids profile, since the OM group had the highest MUFA and -3 PUFA contents. The microencapsulation process significantly ( < 0.001) increased the lipid oxidation. The ME batch presented the highest TBARS values and volatile compounds derivate from lipid oxidation, while the OM treatment showed the same lipid oxidation rate as CO group.

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