6533b7d6fe1ef96bd12659ec

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Chemical and physico‐chemical changes during the dry‐cured processing of deer loin

subject

description

The changes on chemical composition, physico‐chemical parameters, free fatty acids and free amino acids content of dry‐cured deer loin were investigated at day 0, 30 and 60 of dry‐cured process. On the whole, except for pH values (≈5.6) and composition (fat: 4.6–5.2%; protein: ≈73%; ash: ≈17.5%) that did not show differences between the processing days, the other physico‐chemical parameters were affected by curing process. Colour parameters and moisture (from 69 to 38.4%) decreased while the hardness increase from 12.35 to 342 N and lipid oxidation (from 0.2 to 0.52 mg MDA/kg) increased as dry‐cured stage progresses. In similar way, free fatty acid (2250 mg per 100 g of fat at 0 day and 5940 mg per 100 g of fat at 60 days) and free amino acid content (914 mg per 100 g DM at 0 day and 1253 mg per 100 g DM at 60 days) increased progressively as the curing process progressed. The behaviour of this product during processing is similar to that described for the same product made with other animal species. Therefore, deer meat is an excellent candidate for the production of dry‐cured loin, which would allow introducing a new product on the market.