Effects of the Replacement of Pork Backfat with High Oleic Sunflower Oil on the Quality of the "Chorizo Zamorano" Dry Fermented Sausage.

The "Chorizo Zamorano" dry fermented sausage is a traditional Spanish product which is highly appreciated by consumers. This paper studies the reformulation of this product in order to improve its lipid composition and its fatty acid profile and to reduce its fat content. To achieve this, the fat used in the production of the product was partially replaced with high oleic sunflower oil in proportions of 12.5%, 20%, and 50% of the total fat content. Proximate analysis, fatty acid profiles, lipid oxidation, and sensory analysis were studied. The replacement of fat with oil showed a significant effect on the evolution of the parameters analyzed during ripening in all cases. The batches with sunflower oil presented higher levels of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) and lower levels of saturated fatty acids (SFA) and a similar amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) to the control products. The replacement of up to 20% of oil showed no significant differences for most of the physicochemical and sensory parameters analyzed at the end of the ripening.

Flavonoid and Antioxidant Capacity of Propolis Prediction Using Near Infrared Spectroscopy.

The use of propolis as a dietary supplement or as an ingredient in different food products is increasing, due to its antioxidant and bactericidal properties. These nutritional properties directly depend on its phenolic composition. For this reason, this study analysed the total contents of flavones and flavonols, flavanones and dihydroflavonols, and the antioxidant capacity by using the methods of ABTS and linoleic acid/ß-carotene in 99 samples of propolis from Spain and Chile. A rapid method was developed for quantifying these parameters in raw propolis using near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy with a remote reflectance fibre-optic probe applied directly to the ground-up sample. The models developed allow for the determination of the total flavones and flavonols (0-183 mg quercetin/g propolis and 0-72 mg rutin/g propolis), of the total flavanones and dihydroflavonols (9-109 mg pinocembrin/g propolis extract), and of its antioxidant capacity by the ABTS method based on the reduction of the 2.2-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) radical cation(0-3212.6 nmol Trolox/mg of propolis) and of linoleic acid/ß-carotene (22-86% inhibition). The NIR spectroscopy models were applied in external validation to different samples of the calibration group, which led to the conclusion that the methods developed provide significantly identical data to the initial chemical data of reference.