Fatty acid profiles of hump, kidney and brisket fat and their correlation with sensory properties of beef salami

Abstract

This study examined the influence of fatty acid composition on the sensory properties of beef salami made using brisket, kidney and hump fats. Fat samples were analyzed for total saturated fatty acids (SFAs), mono-unsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) and poly-unsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). Total SFAs contents from the hump and the brisket fat were at 21.25% and 20.1% respectively, while kidney fat had lower content at 13.52%. Palmitic acid was the highest SFA in the hump fat with 9.35%, Behenic Acid was higher (5.73%) in kidney fat and Stearic acid was the most abundant saturated fatty acid in the brisket fat (5.41). The total SFAs of the hump fat were significantly different from those of the kidney fat at (HSD =.036).The total MUFAs of the hump fat were significantly different from those of the kidney Fat at (HSD=.007) the same as the MUFAs of the kidney fat which were significantly different from those of the brisket fat at (HSD=.004). For the levels of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs); Oleic acid (C18:1) was higher in hump fat (33.02%), Eicosenoic acid (C20:1) was higher in brisket fat (34.28%) while Erucic acid (C22:1) was very high in kidney fat (33.86%) compared to the other two fat samples. Both Linoleic and alpha linolenic acids were found in higher levels in brisket fat (2.13%) and (2.08%), followed by kidney fat (0.62%) and (2.03%) and were lowest in hump fat (0.48%) and (1.18%) respectively. Sensory attributes such as appearance, taste, flavor, texture, mealiness and product consistency were marked by panelists on a 1 to 9 hedonic scale. Fatty acids compositions were found to affect the sensory attributes especially flavor, texture and appearance of beef salami while the influence of fatty acids on taste and product consistency was not well understood. The hump fat salami was the most liked product in terms of the studied sensory properties with the highest rank (7.08) on a scale of panelist (1 to 9) while the brisket and kidney fat salami ranked 6.88 and 6.68 respectively in the overall product liking. From these findings, the meat industry would make a balanced decision of providing both good quality and less harmful products to consumers and provide them with clear information about the used ingredients to guide their choice.