Characteristics of pork products from swine fed a high monounsaturated fat diet: Part 3-A high-fat cured product

Fresh pork bellies from animals fed a control sorghum-soybean diet and a similar diet containing 12% high-oleic sunflower oil (HOSO) were cured and processed in a smokehouse to an internal temperature of 55·6°C. Cooking losses were not significantly different (p < 0·05) between bacon strips from animals on the control diet and those from animals on the HOSO diet. The ratio of monounsaturated fatty acids to saturated fatty acids for the cooked rasher from the HOSO group was 1·84 times that for the cooked rasher from the control group (2·48 versus 1·35). The cooked rasher had a slightly lower (p < 0·05) percentage of total monosaturates that uncooked bacon strips within each diet group. When considering stearic acid as a fatty acid that does not raise the plasma cholesterol level in the human, along with all unsaturated fatty acids, only 16·83% and 12·26% of total fatty acids in the cooked rasher and the drip, respectively, from the HOSO group were fatty acids (C14:0 and C16:0) which may raise the plasma cholesterol level. The residual nitrite level in the raw and cooked bacon was higher (P < 0·05) for samples from the HOSO group than for those from the control group, probably due to binding of nitrite to the double bonds in unsaturated fatty acids that were higher for samples from the HOSO group. The extent of the accumulation of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances during frozen storage was not affected (P > 0·05) by the inclusion of 12% HOSO in the animal diet, regardless of the packaging method.