Application of pine bark extracts on ready-to-eat smoked pork belly: effects on lipid oxidation and antioxidant capacity

Abstract

Natural foods with increased nutritional content and additional biological and health benefits are appealing to modern customers. A growing interest in using natural substances to replace synthetic compounds in foods has sparked several thorough studies with plant-origin products. Maritime pine bark (Pinus pinaster subsp. atlantica) is an abundant waste from the timber industry and an important source of natural polyphenolic compounds. These compounds stand out due to their bioactive potential, especially antioxidant and antimicrobial activities, that can be used for preserving foods, increasing their shelf life, safety, nutritional value, as well as reducing food waste. The present work aims to evaluate the efficiency of pine bark extracts for reducing lipid oxidation in a ready-to-eat cured-smoked pork belly product.