Lipid oxidation of animal fat

Lipid oxidation is a highly complex set of free radical reactions between lipid compounds and oxygen. The description of lipid oxidation processes can be difficult to fully explain and usually requires specific context (i.e., description of foods and/or storage conditions) to be properly explained. For this reason, this chapter focused on animal-derived lipids and describes the general mechanisms involved in lipid oxidation, factors that influence lipid oxidation, and the main oxidation products caused by lipid oxidation. Of note, three primary types of oxidative reactions (autoxidation, enzymatic oxidation, and photooxidation) were discussed at length. The ways in which each of the three types of oxidative reactions contributes to the lipid oxidation processes were discussed. In summary, lipid oxidation is the main nonmicrobial mechanism that causes the loss of nutritional and sensorial quality of food products, which in turn causes consumer rejection at the point of purchase or dissatisfaction during consumption. With this stated, some of the end products generated from lipid oxidation are important contributors in the development of typical sensory traits of dry-cured meat products and ripened dairy products. Therefore, these products were discussed at length in this book chapter. Future research studies should focus efforts on improving the quantification thresholds and general descriptions of the desirable aromatic compounds generated from lipid oxidation processes.