Lipid Oxidation in Meat

Abstract

Lipids are primarily responsible for both desirable and undesirable flavors and aromas in meat. However, lipid oxidation in most cases deteriorates the quality of meat and causes unacceptable flavor for consumers.Lipids can be oxidized by enzymatic and non-enzymatic reactions and there are many mechanisms to explain these complex reactions in meat. Autoxidation is a continuous free-radical chain reaction and is the most important mechanism of lipid oxidation in meat. The three basic phases of this mechanism consists of initiation, propagation, and termination and these steps are usually used to explain the autoxidation system. Antioxidants are classified as (1) free radical scavengers (2) oxygen scavengers (3) chelators.