Uso de antioxidantes naturais em carnes e seus subprodutos

Abstract

Meat products are susceptible to oxidation. To prevent or retard this process, exogenous antioxidants, in particular synthetic antioxidants, are added to these products. However, these synthetic antioxidants can have adverse effects on human health. For this reason, the industry has been looking for alternatives to avoid this problem, such as use of natural antioxidants. These products have active compounds that exert antioxidant activity in meats by different mechanisms of action. Natural antioxidants are obtained from herbs, spices, vegetables, fruits and seeds, where phenolic compounds are the main substances responsible for their antioxidant activity. Plant extracts that present phenolic compounds are considered effective sources of antioxidants, since they have high activity of hydrogen donation or have high capacity to absorb free radicals. The aim of this review is to provide a survey about oxidative processes in meat products and the use of natural antioxidants as an alternative to synthetic ones.