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Iberian meat products are classified into four quality categories based on the crossbreeding and feeding of pigs. Meat industries also commonly apply chromatographic analysis to major fatty acids found in the subcutaneous fat taken from the carcass to classify Iberian meat products. Despite the influence of the dry‐cured processing, it has not been considered to stablish quality categories of this product, and neither utilizing different lipid sampling methods for analysis. This study evaluated fat from different areas and hams from various brands and quality categories to assess the correspondence between the fatty acid composition from different fat samples, the quality categories of the current classification of Iberian meat products, and the sensory profile of dry‐cured hams. The analysed samples included fat from the coccyx in the carcass (CAR), subcutaneous fat from fresh and dry‐cured Iberian hams (SCF and SCD, respectively), and intramuscular fat (IMF) from sliced and vacuum‐packed dry‐cured hams (IMF). These samples were sourced from different brands within each quality category of Iberian products and were evaluated based on their fatty acid composition. Additionally, a quantitative descriptive sensory analysis was conducted on the dry‐cured hams in this study. Significant differences in the fatty acid composition and results from the principal component analysis were observed in all four types of analysed samples, indicating similarities among brands from the White and Green quality categories on the one hand and among brands from the Red and Black quality categories on the other hand. Sensory attributes of the dry‐cured hams showed minimal significant differences among quality categories, likely due to the high variability among brands. The four types of sampling analysed in this work may be used for quality control in the industries, especially subcutaneous and intramuscular fat from dry‐cured Iberian hams, which are easily obtained and handled, and are available until the end of processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work aimed to evaluate the Caco‐2 cells as a model to study the epithelial transport of intestinal lipid extracts subjected to in vitro digestion, to establish a standard protocol for the determination of bioaccessibility and bioavailability of fatty acids in meat matrix, especially in those enriched with ω‐3 (eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acids (DHA)). Samples were first subjected to in vitro digestion, and then, the intestinal extract was incubated with Caco‐2 cells. A first trial was conducted to select the most influencing variables on the fatty acid transport during Caco‐2 cell incubation: fat quantity on the intestinal extract, incubation time, and shaking. Then, a second experiment was carried out to determine the influence of these variables, being the fat quantity and the incubation time the most influencing factors on the transport and bioavailability of fatty acids. The effect of shaking was not so marked but seemed to improve the bioavailability of saturated fatty acids. This study also allows establishing the most suitable conditions: intestinal extracts with 30 mg of fat, longer incubation times (8 h), and shaking, achieving active and passive fatty acid transport without compromising the integrity of the Caco‐2 cell monolayer. The accurate results obtained for major and minor fatty acids, especially EPA and DHA are remarkable, due to the interest in these bioactive compounds. Thus, this study provides a combined protocol based on static in vitro digestion followed by Caco‐2 cell incubation to assess the bioaccessibility and bioavailability of fatty acids in meat samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to non-destructively characterize samples of fresh beef loin by low-intensity ultrasound inspection at various frequencies and to correlate the acoustic parameters of these inspections with quality parameters. In this regard, ultrasonic parameters such as ultrasound pulse velocity (UPV) and variables related to attenuation and frequency components obtained from fast Fourier transform (FFT) were considered. For this, pulsed ultrasonic signal transducers with a frequency of 0.5 and 1.0 MHz were used. Acoustic parameters and those obtained through traditional instrumental analyses (physicochemical and texture) underwent a Pearson correlation analysis. The acoustic determinations revealed numerous significant correlations with the rest of the studied parameters. The results demonstrate that ultrasonic inspection has the ability to characterize samples with a non-destructive nature, and likewise, this methodology can be postulated as a promising predictive tool for determining quality parameters in beef loin samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]