Fatty acid profile, total cholesterol, vitamin content, and TBARS value of turkey breast muscle cured with the addition of lycopene.

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of lycopene addition for curing turkey meat on the profile of fatty acids, total cholesterol, vitamin content, and the TBARS of the final products. The analyzed material comprised 64 breast muscles, of which 16 (RBM) were immediately transported to a laboratory. Another 16 (UBM) were heat treated in a convection steam oven, and 32 muscles were cured for 3 days in two types of curing mixture: without (CBM) and with (CBM+Lyc) tomato peel extract standardized for 5% lycopene content. After completed curing, samples were steamed and grilled under the same conditions as raw samples. Statistical analysis demonstrated the highest (P≤0.01) mean content of vitamin A (0.07 μg/g) in chilled muscles. The content of vitamin E was lower (P≤0.01) in UBM samples than in CBM+Lyc and RBM. The TBARS value was the lowest (P≤0.01) in RBM muscles (0.35 mg MDA/kg of meat). Although there were no differences between products, but lower TBARS were found in CBM+Lyc samples. The content of cholesterol was higher (P≤0.01) in CBM+Lyc products than in the RBM and UBM. RBM samples contained (P≤0.01) the lowest amount of saturated, monounsaturated, and hypercholesterolemic fatty acids, and the highest of unsaturated, polyunsaturated, and hypocholesterolemic fatty acids. CBM+Lyc samples contained (P≤0.01) less hypercholesterolemic and more hypocholesterolemic fatty acids than CBM group. Higher (P≤0.01) unsaturated/saturated and hypocholesterolemic/hypercholesterolemic fatty acid ratios were also found in CBM+Lyc products. The study demonstrated that the used processing technology caused reduction (P≤0.01) of n-3 and n-6 PUFA content. Findings suggest that the addition of lycopene in the process of meat curing and heat treatment in meat industry do not change the content of vitamins and cholesterol or alter the TBARS value in turkey meat products. Nevertheless, lycopene can be used to increase the content of essential hypocholesterolemic fatty acids and decrease the content of saturated hypercholesterolemic fatty acids.