Studies on Vitamin E and Meat Quality. 3. Effect of Feeding High Vitamin E Levels to Pigs on the Sensory and Keeping Quality of Cooked Ham

Abstract

The objective of this work was to study the influence of vitamin E (α-tocopheryl acetate) supplementation of pig diets on the time-dependent sensory quality of cured and cooked hams. Pigs were fed identical diets until they reached 45 kg live weight. From 45 to 100 kg, six control pigs received a diet containing 8 mg of α-tocopheryl acetate/kg of feed, whereas the supplemented animals received 200 mg/kg of feed. In cured and cooked hams produced from supplemented animals the α-tocopherol levels were 5-fold higher when compared to hams produced from the control animals. After 16 days of storage at 6 °C, the sensory panel detected a significant preference (95%) for the hams produced from pigs fed the supplemented diet. Hams from pigs fed the control diet were significantly more susceptible to lipid oxidation than hams from pigs fed the supplemented diet. GC−MS analyses of the volatile compounds of the cooked hams as a function of storage time (3 weeks at 6 °C and 3 months at −18 °C) indicated higher concentrations of the aldehydes and the sulfur components in the control samples compared to the supplemented samples for both storage conditions. Keywords: Cooked ham; vitamin E; sensory quality; volatile composition