Synthetic vs. Natural Hydroxytyrosol for Clean Label Lamb Burgers

Abstract

Clean labelling refers to consumers’ desire for manufacturers to be more transparent in the way their products are made and sourced. Natural antioxidants (spices, herbs, fruits, or vegetables) have been proven to offer the same functionality as their synthetic counterparts, with the advantage of being label friendly and process compatible, maintaining meat quality and reducing food waste. Lamb meat has the challenges to have an intense flavour and fat composition to test the effectiveness of some of these natural antioxidants like hydroxytyrosol (HXT). The current paper was designed to test both natural (HXTo) and synthetic (HXTs) antioxidants using four lamb patty batches: one Control (C) (which included sulphites); a reference (R) sample (14.6% carnosic acid and 6% carnosol from natural rosemary extracts, 200 ppm); a sample containing synthetic hydroxytyrosol (HXTs, 99% purity, 200 ppm); and a sample with added organic hydroxytyrosol (HXTo, sample 7% purity from olive tree leaves, 200 ppm). A shelf-life study was carried out for 6 days at 4 °C, testing proximal composition and mineral bioavailability, pH changes, colour (by CIELab), total antioxidant capacity (TAC by oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC)), lipid and protein oxidation (thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARs) and thiol loss, respectively), volatile compound profiles (by HPC-MS), sensory evaluation, and microbiological growth (as total vial count (TVC) and total coliform count (TCC)). Results revealed that lamb burgers with added HXTs had better-preserved raw lamb meat in the test conditions, with reduced colour losses, lipid oxidation, and release of volatile compounds, the half the microbiological growth (TVC) of the Control, the best TAC, and significantly increased (p < 0.05) minerals bioavailability, while maintaining sensory acceptability. In summary, natural antioxidants are an adequate strategy for lamb meat burgers. Regarding HXTo, obtained from olives, the synthetic analogue is even more effective in terms of preservative and antioxidant activity, and in maintaining the nutritional value, sensory characteristics, and safety of food products.

Effect of the Application of a Green Preservative Strategy on Minced Meat Products: Antimicrobial Efficacy of Olive Mill Wastewater Polyphenolic Extract in Improving Beef Burger Shelf-Life

“…A higher antioxidant activity was found in the PE in comparison with the CM containing ascorbic acid (554.42 ± 3.38 and 1149.02 ± 13.69 µg TE/100 g in CM and PE, respectively). The high antioxidant activity recorded in the PE is in agreement with a previous studies that reported the powerful antioxidant activity of olive phenolic compounds [ 22 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 ]. The results for the lipid oxidation and antioxidant activity of minced beef meat indicated by TBARs and ORAC FL values are reported in Table 2 .…”

Innovative Natural Functional Ingredients from Olive and Citrus Extracts in Spanish-Type Dry-Cured Sausage “Fuet”

“…Obtained results can be supported by the rest of the assessed characteristics where the antioxidant and antimicrobial capacities of HT were demonstrated ( Figure 1 , Table 5 and Table 6 ). Additionally, the antioxidant activity of HT has been repeatedly demonstrated by several authors, as in vitro [ 36 , 37 , 38 ], as in vivo [ 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 ] or as a preserver in a food matrix [ 17 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 35 , 45 , 46 , 47 ]. For that, incorporation of this kind of products in a balanced Mediterranean Diet could report significant health benefits of consumers in comparison with usual manufactured meat products rich in synthetic additives.…”

Clean Label Alternatives in Meat Products

“…One of the most important natural antioxidants is 3,4-dihydroxyphenylethanol or hydroxytyrosol (HXT), showing interesting antioxidant characteristics and having beneficial effects on health [ 62 ]. Martinez-Zamora et al [ 63 ] tested both natural (HXTo) and synthetic (HXTs) antioxidants on lamb meat burgers. Natural HXTo consisted of organic hydroxytyrosol (HXTo, sample 7% purity from olive tree leaves, 200 ppm) showed higher preservative activity in maintaining the nutritional value than the control synthetic HTX (HXTs, 99% purity, 200 ppm) made with sulphites.…”