Influence of raw matter origin and production period on fatty-acid composition of dry-cured hams

Božidar ŽLENDER; Tomaž POLAK; Dajana ŠPACAPAN; Darko ANDRONIKOV; Lea GAŠPERLIN

doi:10.14720/aas.2008.92.1.15089

Authors

Božidar ŽLENDER Univ. of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Fac., Dept. of Food Science and Technology, Jamnikarjeva 101, SI-1111 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Tomaž POLAK Univ. of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Fac., Dept. of Food Science and Technology, Jamnikarjeva 101, SI-1111 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Dajana ŠPACAPAN MIP, Mesna industrija Primorske, d.d., Panovška 1, SI-5000 Nova Gorica, Slovenia
Darko ANDRONIKOV Postgraduate student at Univ. of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Fac., Slovenia
Lea GAŠPERLIN Univ. of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Fac., Dept. of Food Science and Technology, Jamnikarjeva 101, SI-1111 Ljubljana, Slovenia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14720/aas.2008.92.1.15089

Keywords:

meat products, dry-cured ham, Vipava ham, pork legs, origin, fat, composition, fatty acids, Slovenia

Abstract

We have here investigated the fatty acid composition in the muscle (Mm. biceps femoris, semitendinosus and semimembranosus) of Vipava and Vipava-style hams made from fresh pork legs that originate from Slovenia, and from Germany and Italy, respectively. Dry-cured hams are produced under technology protected according to recognized geographical indications for Vipava ham, a salt-cured ham that is air-dried rather than smoked. The fatty acid compositions of samples were determined by gas-liquid chromatography following in-situ transesterification. On average, hams contained 6.89% of intramuscular and intermuscular fat, with the fatty-acid composition as 50.0% monounsaturated, 11.8% polyunsaturated (PUFA) and 38.0% saturated fatty acids. The origin of the raw matter has significant influence the PUFAs in hams, which were 2.0% lower in products from pigs of Slovenian (own) rearing. The important indicators of lipid nutritive value, as P/S ratio (0.31), content of n-3 (0.68%) and n-6 (9.02%) PUFAs, and ratio of n-6/n-3 PUFAs (14.1), are similar to those cited in the literature for other types of dry-cured hams from south European regions produced from pigs reared under intensive systems.