Future trends of processed meat products concerning perceived healthiness: A review

Abstract

The 21st-century consumer is highly demanding when it comes to the health benefits of food and food products. In the pursuit of attracting these consumers and easing the rise in demand for high-quality meat products, the processed meat sector is intensely focused on developing reformulated, low-fat, healthy meat products. Meat and meat products are considered the primary sources of saturated fatty acids in the human diet. Therefore, these reformulation strategies aim to improve the fatty acid profile and reduce total fat and cholesterol, which can be achieved by replacing animal fat with plant-based oils; it could be performed as direct inclusion of these oils or pre-emulsified oils. However, emulsions offer a viable option for incorporating vegetable oils while avoiding the multiple issues of direct inclusion of these oils in meat products. Processed meat products are popular worldwide and showing a gradually increasing trend of consumption. Various types of plant-based oils have been studied as fat replacers in meat products. This review will focus on possible methods to reduce the saturated fatty acid content in meat products. K E Y W O R D Sanimal fat substitution, emulsified meat products, emulsion, plant-based oil, saturated fatty acid INTRODUCTIONFood delivers health-promoting nutrients and bioactive compounds, provides energy for growth, functions as a structural component, and participates in all metabolic processes (Hygreeva et al., 2014). Meat and meat products as components of the human diet provide an important source of proteins with high biological value and nutrients (i.e., vitamins, essential amino acids, fatty acids, and soluble minerals) essential for biochemical and physiological stability (Kausar et al., 2019). However, the perception of meat fat as being high in saturated fatty acids (SFA) has led to the belief that meat, particularly red meat, should be avoided. The scientific rationale for decreasing fat intake in the diet, and, consequently, even if misguidedly, meat consumption, is the association between a high intake of SFA and the incidence of physiological disorders, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood lipids, high cholesterol level, and cardiovascular diseases (Islam et al., 2019;Kumar et al., 2017). Recent data published by the World Health Organization (WHO) showed that 39.5 million deaths out of 54.7 million global deaths are mainly due to noncommunicable diseases (WHO, 2018a). Such concerns have prompted the WHO to establish future recommendations for replacing SFA in meat products (López-Pedrouso et al., 2020), reinforcing dietary guidelines to reduce fat consumption, especially SFA (Sacks et al., 2017). Therefore, the

Use of Olive and Sunflower Oil Hydrogel Emulsions as Pork Fat Replacers in Goat Meat Burgers: Fat Reduction and Effects in Lipidic Quality

“…Among those approaches is the food reformulation aimed to reduce energy density, salt, or saturated fat in meat products, or promote the presence of functional components or favorable nutrients [ 2 ]. In this regard, the meat industry is facing the challenge to replace animal fat with oils, the main purpose of this is to improve the fatty acid profile and reduce cholesterol and its oxidation derivatives [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]. The foremost difficult task is to avoid the negative effect of fat replacement on the technological and sensory quality traits to which animal fat positively contributes, such as flavor, mouthfeel, texture, and overall perception [ 8 , 9 ].…”

“…The foremost difficult task is to avoid the negative effect of fat replacement on the technological and sensory quality traits to which animal fat positively contributes, such as flavor, mouthfeel, texture, and overall perception [ 8 , 9 ]. Facing this challenge, meat researchers are recently investigating the application of solid plant-based oil structured emulsions such as oleogels and hydrogels to replace animal fat [ 10 , 11 , 12 ].…”

Natural Antimicrobials: A Clean Label Strategy to Improve the Shelf Life and Safety of Reformulated Meat Products

“…However, replacing or reducing the fat in meat products represents a high technological challenge because the fat provides important sensory and technological advantages (facilitates emulsification, regulates dehydration processes and the final product texture, solubilizes and generates aromas, etc.) [ 16 ]. Other reasons for using fat replacers in meat formulation are that water and fat retention, cooking performance, hardness, and cutting and flavor characteristics may be improved [ 17 ].…”

“…Therefore, the use of multiple fat substitutes based on proteins, carbohydrates, and synthetic compounds were used in meat products reformulation [ 18 ]. Additionally, in recent years, research has focused on the addition of vegetable oils to replace animal fat in meat products [ 16 , 19 , 20 ]. This addition has two goals: to optimize the amounts of lipids and fatty acid profiles as well as to achieve a more convenient composition related to healthy foods.…”

Effect of Oudemansiella raphanipies Powder on Physicochemical and Textural Properties, Water Distribution and Protein Conformation of Lower-Fat Pork Meat Batter

“…It remains a challenge to reduce the content of animal fat and improve or maintain the quality of lower-fat meat products. Meat scientists and producers introduce bioactive components during processing and design novel formulations to increase product value of processed meat, thus achieving a balance between fat replacement and desirable meat quality [ 5 , 6 ]. In recent years, edible fungi have been added into meat emulsions systems to obtain healthier meat products with lower fat, reduced salt and fewer calories, as well as the introduction of bioactive components, such as dietary fibers and natural antioxidants.…”