Dietary vitamin E: Quality and storage stability of pork and poultry

Abstract

Lipid oxidation is one of the primary processes of quality deterioration in meat and meat products. The changes in quality are manifested by adverse changes in flavour, colour, texture, and nutritive value and by the possible production of toxic compounds. Dietary supplementation of vitamin E above requirement levels has been found to be effective in reducing lipid oxidation in meat and meat products. This review focuses on the deposition and antioxidative effects of muscle vitamin E and how supra-nutritional vitamin E supplementation influences lipid oxidation, colour, water-holding capacity and cholesterol oxidation in pig and poultry meat. Furthermore, the interactions between muscle vitamin E with processing, packaging and storage conditions are taken into consideration.