Possible biological markers of the time of processing of dry-cured ham.

Several muscle compounds (creatine, creatinine, hypoxanthine, inosine, inosine 5' monophosphate, xanthine, adenosine monophosphate, guanosine, and uridine) were studied as possible biological markers of a minimum dry-cured ham processing time. A correlation between the concentration of the compounds and the time of processing was found. The ratios for some of them were calculated to study their behaviour during processing. The Hx/Ino ratio substantially increased up to 5 months of curing and then remained constant (p<0.05). The Hx/Ino ratio might be considered as a potential biomarker of the minimum time of dry-cured processing (5 months). The Cn/Cr ratio increased during drying up to 9 months of ripening (p<0.05). However, although Cn/Cr ratios remained constant after 9 months of processing, variations between hams were observed due to the differences existing in the raw meats and small differences in processing conditions, making it difficult to consider Cn/Cr ratios as biomarkers of ripening time.