Aplicação de microcristais de curcumina em mortadela

Abstract

Mortadella is an industrialized meat product, obtained from a meat emulsion and has approximately 30% in fats, which can undergo oxidative rancidity, an undesirable characteristic in meat products. To retard oxidation, synthetic antioxidant additives, most commonly sodium erythorbate, are used. In recent times, several research points to the evils that synthetic antioxidants can cause, such as cancer. However, natural alternatives have been sought to retard oxidative processes and curcumin is a potential alternative. In this research was evaluated for 90 days the use of curcumin crystals in replacement of sodium erythorbate in the production of mortadella, which showed to have a great antioxidative effect against the similar synthetic and similar performance in other physical-chemical tests, except for color, because curcumin also has yellow coloring properties, which left this characteristic in the samples produced with this substance.