Trends and Prospects of Lipophilic Bioactive Compounds in Meat Production and Preservation

Abstract

Meat and meat products are important food sources of proteins, fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals (iron and zinc) for human beings. However, these nutritious meats are vulnerable to quality deterioration including microbial contamination, and protein and lipid oxidation. Therefore, to prevent postharvest quality changes in meat various chemicals, and natural preservatives have been employed during meat processing. Natural preservatives can be hydrophilic or lipophilic compounds that support animal growth, and preserve the postharvest quality of meat by inhibiting oxidation and microbial contamination. Among these, applications of hydrophilic compounds in meat product preservations have been extensively reviewed. However, recently, little or no reviews have been reported on the applications of fat-soluble bioactive compounds in meat production and preservation. Lipophilic bio-active compounds such as omega-3 fatty acids, fat-soluble vitamins, phytosterols, carotenoids, flavonoids, curcuminoids, etc. have been reported for several applications in meat production and postharvest preservation of muscle foods. Therefore, different lipophilic bioactive compounds as growth promoters in meat-producing animals and as agents enhancing the storage quality of meat and meat products are extensively reviewed in this article. The inclusion of lipophilic bioactive compounds improves the growth rate in food animals and the storage quality of meat.