Cinta Senese burgers with omega-3 fatty acids: Effect of storage and type of enrichment on quality characteristics [Effetto del tipo di conservazione e arricchimento in omega-3 sulla qualità di hamburger di Cinta Senese]

In Cinta Senese meat, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) only consists in the 10-11% of total fat. Moreover, the eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids are not present in pork meat, but they are very abundant in fish products. In order to enhance Cinta Senese burgers healthiness, microencapsulated (M) and bulk fish oil (F) were added. The burgers were divided in three groups and underwent three different storage conditions: no storage (T0), chilled storage (T5) and frozen storage (T30). Fatty acid profile and lipid oxidation of enriched burgers were investigated after cooking. M burgers showed significantly higher amount of PUFA at T0 and T5, in particular omega-3 PUFA resulted significantly higher in M samples at T0, T5 and T30. TBARs resulted to be influenced by addition, with significantly higher values in F burgers. In conclusion, fish oil microencapsulation technique appears to be effective to enrich meat in omega-3 fatty acids, protecting added PUFA from oxidation.