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Lipids are a major source of energy and provide essential lipid nutrients. In many food products

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Lipids are a major source of energy and provide essential lipid nutrients. In many food products the lipid component plays a major role in determining the overall characteristics, such, as flavour, texture, mouthfeel and appearance (Ross & Smith, 2006). However, fats, oils and lipid-based products deteriorate during heat processing, distribution and long term storage. The chemical deterioration is as a result of lipid oxidation. In some chesses, a limited amount of lipid oxidation is desirable for the generation of a characteristic taste or smell (Sun et al., 2011). On the other hand it is undesirable in high lipid or fat containing food products. Lipid oxidation is a major concern to the food industry due to the increasing emphasis on …show more content…

Another method of inhibition is to use antioxidants. These are a class of substances that vary widely in chemical structure and have diverse mechanisms of action. Synthetic antioxidant are more effective, they can be used at lower concentrations, are less expensive and can be prepared with consistent quality without an effect on flavour, colour and aroma of the food product (Pokorny et al., 2008; Shahidi & Zhong, 2010). However, synthetic antioxidants are “label unfriendly” additives (Chaiyasit et al., 2007).
Recently, special attention has been given to the use of natural antioxidants due to worldwide trend to avoid or minimise the use of synthetic food additives. These natural antioxidants are widely distributed in plant materials, animal tissues and microorganisms. The application of heat treatments renders natural antioxidants unstable, for example ascorbic acid participates in non-enzymatic browning reactions (Kalakowska, 2002; Kiokias et al., 2009; Shahidi & Zhong, 2011).
Another negative side of natural antioxidants includes wide variation in concentration of active components (due to source and extraction methods) and undesirable effects on flavour, colour and aroma of foods (Pokorny et al., 2008). As a result, the quest for natural

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