Aplicação de antioxidantes naturais em salame fatiado para fixação de cor e aumento de vida útil

Abstract

Salamis are products derived from the lactic fermentation of crushed and salted raw meat, mixed with fat, added of spices, processed and embedded in wrappings. Coloring should be attractive as it is the consumer's first sensory perception of the product. Due to its composition, the salamis suffer physical-chemical alterations such as lipid oxidation, being necessary the use of additives for conservation and increase of useful life. In this context arise the antioxidants, which may be synthetic or natural and used individually or in combination. Studies have shown that natural antioxidants may have similar and even superior functions to synthetic antioxidants. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the antioxidant capacity of different natural antioxidants and to apply them in sliced salami for color fixation and increase of its shelf life. The antioxidant capacity of rosemary extracts (carnosic acid and carnosol), curry leaves (polyphenols), green tea (catachins and polyphenols) and tocopherol mixture were evaluated and later applied and tested in sliced salami formulations. It was also considered, a control formulation (without application of natural antioxidant). In all the developed formulations, physical (color), physical-chemical, microbiological and lipid oxidation characterization analyzes were performed. The results showed that the antioxidants that provided the best color fixation in sliced salami were AC2 (Mixture of Rosemary and Curry Leaf Extract) and AC5 (Mixture of Rosemary Extract with Canola Oil), followed by AC4 (Mixture d-alpha, d-beta, d-gamma and d-delta tocopherols). The antioxidants tested, the AC2 and AC4 applied in formulations F2 and F4 respectively, were those that presented greater control of the lipid oxidation, as well as, they complied with the legislation in all physical-chemical and microbiological analyzes. The two antioxidants of better performance against lipid oxidation were applied in synergism in the formulations through a factorial design 22, with variations in the added concentrations. In this stage, besides the analyzes performed in the pre-test were submitted to texture and sensory analysis. All physico-chemical and microbiological analyzes have complied with the legislation of the product. The formulations presented a red color characteristic at the end of the 120 days, with a higher value for the F4 formulation. In the evaluation of texture it was possible to identify that the formulation F4 (AC2 = 0.12% and AC4 = 0.07%) showed greater firmness at the end of the 120 days of shelf life. The best results found in the sensory analysis were for the formulations F4 and F3, which received the highest concentration of the antioxidant AC2, which corroborated with the result of the analysis of the antioxidant capacity that indicated the AC2 with greater potential. The F4 formulation presented a better performance to combat lipid oxidation, allowing the product to be extended in 30 days (from 90 to 120 days).