OXIDATION IN PRECOOKED MINCED PORK AS INFLUENCED BY CHILL STORAGE OF RAW MUSCLE

During storage for four days at 4 degrees C of pre-cooked minced pork, lipid oxidation measured as thiobarbituric acid reactive substances ( TBARS) and as hexanal by solid phase microextraction was found to depe nd on the level of lipid hydroperoxides rather than on the TBARS in th e raw muscle (M. Longissimus dorsi). Storage for up to six days at 4 d egrees C, prior to mincing and cooking, resulted in a decrease in lipi d hydroperoxides measured as conjugated dienes and in increasing TBARS -value in the raw muscle, and in a pre-cooked product with better oxid ative stability. The correlation coefficient between accumulation of T B TBARS and hexanal in the pre-cooked meat was 0.98, indicating that t he new technique using solid phase microextraction with subsequent GC- analysis for determination of hexanal can be used as an alternative te chnique to describe lipid oxidation in pre-cooked meat. (C) 1997 Elsev ier Science Ltd.