The effects of industrial pre-frying and domestic cooking methods on the nutritional compositions and fatty acid profiles of two different frozen breaded foods

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine the effects of manufacturer pre-frying in olive and sunflower oil, as well as domestic cooking methods (deep-frying in olive and sunflower oil and baking) on the proximate compositions and fatty acid profiles of tuna pasties and ham nuggets. The pre-frying processes reduced moisture and carbohydrates and increased ash, fat and protein content in both pre-fried products. During cooking, the frying processes caused a reduction in moisture content and an increase in fat content in relation to pre-fried samples, while baking did not modify the proximate composition. The fatty acid profiles of products during both the pre-frying and frying processes became similar to those of the culinary fat used. Thus, the frying processes reduced the proportion of saturated fatty acids (SFA) and increased the proportion of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) in the foods when olive oil was used, whereas increased the proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in products fried in sunflower oil. The fatty acid profiles of fried samples tended to be more similar to the frying fat than to the pre-frying fat, whereas the fatty acid profiles identified during the pre-frying process for baked products were not significantly modified. Thus, samples pre-fried in olive oil and subsequently baked showed the best proportion of fat content and PUFA/SFA, MUFA + PUFA/SFA and n-6/ n-3 ratios of the tested products.