Total and free fatty acids content during the ripening of artisan and industrially manufactured “Chorizo de cebolla”

Abstract

“Chorizo de cebolla” is a traditional sausage made in the north west of Spain. In four batches manufactured by artisanal methods and 4 manufactured by industrial ones the contents of total and free fatty acids were assessed throughout ripening, taking from every batch samples of the mass before stuffing (0 days) and of the sausage after 2, 7, 14, 21, 28 and 42 days of ripening. The profile of total fatty acids of the two types of sausage basically coincide with that found by other authors in pork fat. However, both types of sausage (artisanal and industrial) differ significantly (p< 0.05) in the percentage of totally saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. The artisanal manufactured sausages showed percentages of saturated fatty acids significantly superior to those found in industrial sausages. The content of total free fatty acids underwent throughout ripening a significant increase (p< 0.05) from average values of 459 ± 243 mg/100 g of fat in the mass up to 3687 ± 1670 mg/100 g of fat in the sausage of 42 days in the artisanal sausage, and from 560 ± 317 mg/100 g of fat up to 5157 ± 3673 mg/100 g in the industrial ones. Owing to the great variation between the different batches, significant differences were not found in the contents of total free fatty acids between both types of sausages, though at the end of ripening the average content was 1.4 times superior in the industrial sausages. In both types of sausages, the main free fatty acids at the end of ripening were, in this order, oleic, linoleic and palmitic, whose addition represented 83 % of total free fatty acids.