Protein oxidation and in vitro digestibility of heat-treated fermented sausages: How do they change with the effect of lipid formulation during processing?

In the present work, it was aimed to evaluate the oxidative stress indicators and in vitro digestibility during the processing of heat-treated Turkish sausages (sucuk) manufactured using different lipid formulations. The utilization of olive oil in sausage formulations had considerable impacts on proximate composition, pH, and water activity. The increased olive oil content increased primary lipid oxidation products, whereas it decreased the secondary ones. The use of olive oil increased the total carbonyl content, while it decreased the α-aminoadipic semialdehyde concentration. In general, pepsin, trypsin, and α-chymotrypsin activities of the treatments were similar to each other. The heat treatment during the processing significantly increased most of the oxidation markers. Though strong correlations were recorded between specific oxidation markers, no relationship was detected between oxidation parameters and in vitro digestibility. The results indicated that the lipid formulation and processing operations had significant impact on chemical and functional properties of heat-treated fermented sausages, within the complex interrelationships between oxidation mechanisms. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: The present work pointed out the changes and correlations between specific oxidation markers and in vitro digestibility of heat-treated fermented sausages during the production procedure. Oxidation reactions that occur in both proteins and lipids could have drastic impact on overall quality; for this reason, it is of great importance to provide the data for lightening these impacts regarding the product types and production applications. Since heat-treated muscle foods are widely manufactured to meet industrial needs, the data obtained from this research would contribute to understand the effects of formulation and processing operations in the formation of oxidation products and change in digestibility, thereby to pioneer further research on this topic.