title: Influence of pre-cure freezing of Iberian ham on proteolytic changes throughout the ripening process.
abstract: This work aimed to investigate the effect of pre-cure freezing Iberian hams on proteolysis phenomena throughout the ripening process. Non-protein nitrogen (NPN), peptide nitrogen (PN) and amino acid nitrogen (AN) as well as amino acid and dipeptide evolution followed the same trend in both refrigerated (R) and pre-cure frozen (F) Iberian hams during processing. At the different stages of ripening, there were no differences in the content of NPN and AN while F dry-cured hams had higher levels of PN than R hams at the final step. This seemed to be more related to the salt content (lower in F than in R hams) than to the pre-cure freezing treatment. Most amino acids and dipeptides detected showed higher concentrations in F than in R Iberian hams at the green stage, being rather similar at the intermediate phases. At the final stage, the effects of pre-cure freezing of Iberian hams were not well defined, higher levels of some amino acids and dipeptides were found in R than in F Iberian hams whereas other amino acids were lower in R than in F hams.
authors.affiliation: Tecnología de los Alimentos, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Extremadura, 10071 Cáceres, Spain. triny@unex.es
authors.forename: Trinidad
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pérez-Palacios
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ruiz
authors.forename: Jose Manuel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Barat
authors.forename: María Concepción
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Aristoy
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Antequera
mesh_terms: D000596:Amino Acids / Q000032:analysis*; D000818:Animals; D003080:Cold Temperature; D005511:Food Handling / Q000379:methods*; D005519:Food Preservation / Q000379:methods; D005615:Freezing; D006868:Hydrolysis; D008460:Meat / Q000032:analysis*; D009124:Muscle Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis; D010455:Peptides / Q000032:analysis*; D012034:Refrigeration; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000032:analysis; D013552:Swine
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D009124:Muscle Proteins; D010455:Peptides; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D009584:Nitrogen