Effect of different smoking methods of bacon on lipid oxidation

Bacon is the product resulting from the curing and smoking process. Smoking can occur in two ways, by burning the wood or by sprinkling with liquid smoke. Thus, the aim of the study was to determine the extent of lipid oxidation through the formation of malonaldehyde and hexanal in smoked bacons with reforestation wood and liquid smoke. The pork bellies were divided into three treatments relation to the type of smoking: one negative control (unsmoked bacon C), smoked bacon with reforested wood specie (Acacia mearnsii AM) and artificially smoked bacon (liquid smoke LS). The bacon samples were vacuum packed and refrigerated for analysis on storage days 0, 30 and 60. TBA was analyzed by the quantification of MDA. The hexanal was identified employing SPME associated with GC-MS. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey test (P <0.05) were used. The TBA values indicate that from day 30 of storage the AM treatment obtained lower lipid oxidation in relation to the others, followed by the treatment LS and C, respectively. The lowest values of TBA found for AM treatment are due to the type of smoking used, that is, the bacon is naturally smoked with wood. The phenolic compounds from wood AM presents in its high lignin composition (23.08%) are characterized as antioxidants. Higher concentrations of hexanal may indicate the initiation of lipid oxidation and treatment C demonstrated higher concentration and this treatment may confer a more pronounced rancid aroma. While the hexanal found in low concentrations for LS and AM. The process of smoking bacon reduced lipid oxidation during refrigerated storage, favoring smoking with wood. This indicates that the volatile compounds formed in the smoke have antioxidant activity and this technique can be used to prolong the shelf life of meat products, especially those smoked with Acacia mearnsii.