Changes of phospholipase A₂ and C activities during dry-cured duck processing and their relationship with intramuscular phospholipid degradation.

Phospholipid hydrolysis, as the main stage and cause of phopholipid degradation, is generally attributed to phospholipases. In this study, the changes of phospholipase A₂ (PLA₂) and C (PLC) activities, neutral lipid, free fatty acids and phospholipids in dry-cured duck leg muscles during processing, were examined. The composition of free fatty acids and neutral lipids increased significantly (P<0.05) with extension of processing time while the phospholipids composition decreased. The PLA₂ and PLC activity decreased in the final product, but retained 83.70% and 86.78% of their initial activities, respectively. The relative activities of both PLA₂ and PLC highly correlated with the decline of phospholipids and the increase of free fatty acids. High correlations were also obtained between the relative activities of PLC and the increase of neutral lipid (P<0.01). All these results suggest that PLA₂ and PLC contribute to the degradation of intramuscular phospholipids during the processing of dry-cured duck.