Abstract
Since few foods are naturally rich in vitamin D, novel food products with a high content of vitamin D are needed to decrease the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency. Pork cracklings are Danish snacks with high contents of protein and fat. They are consumed mostly during wintertime when sun exposure cannot fulfil human needs for vitamin D3. Pork cracklings were produced in an industrially friendly manner from UVB LED illuminated pork rind, using a combination of sous vide (85 °C, 60 min) and roasting in the oven (200 °C, 20 min). Thermal processing resulted in a significant loss of vitamin D3 (>90%). Thus, the process was optimized by the UVB exposure of pork cracklings, i.e., after thermal processing. The produced pork cracklings had a vitamin D3 level of ~10 µg/100 g, with a possibility of tailoring its final content. Furthermore, the fat content at 15–20% was a reduction of 50% compared to marketed products in 2021. No significant difference was found in the content of vitamin D3 during 31 days of storage in the air. A consumer preference test (n = 53) indicated that >80% of participants liked the product and saw its potential as a new food source of vitamin D3.
Highlights
Vitamin D deficiency is a public health problem among the European population
Processing A was performed by combining two different temperatures, where the 100 ◦C simulated the boiling procedure in the traditional production of pork crackling, where pork rind is initially cooked in boiling water, which is followed by treatment in the oven
Sous vide is a processing method widely used in industrial food production that enables precise control of the temperature and time during processing and at the same time improves the food textural, nutritional, and sensory quality compared to traditional cooking [24,25]
Summary
Vitamin D deficiency is a public health problem among the European population. A large observational study estimated that ~40% (n = 55,844) of Europeans had vitamin D deficiency [1], defined as the level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) in serum being < 50 nmol/L or 20 ng/mL [2]. A recent descriptive study performed on Danish children and adults (2–69 years) reported substantial seasonal variation in the 25(OH)D concentrations, indicating that 71% of non-supplement users were vitamin D insufficient during at least one of the seasons, mostly during spring [10]. This observation was in agreement with the results of the study that examined the effect of geographic location, season, and month of the year and showed that sun exposure from October until March does not provide vitamin D effective radiation at latitudes >40◦ [11]
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