Packaging and irradiation effects on lipid oxidation and volatiles in pork patties

Raw-meat patties were prepared from three pork muscles, irradiated in different packaging environments, and stored for 0 or 3 days before cooking. Lipid oxidation by-products were formed in the raw meat during storage and the baseline lipid oxidation data of raw meat was used to measure the progression of lipid oxidation after cooking. Thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) and volatiles data indicated that preventing oxygen exposure after cooking was more important for cooked meat quality than packaging, irradiation, or storage conditions of raw meat. Propanal, pentanal, hexanal, 1-pentanol, and total volatiles correlated highly (P < 0.01) with TBARS values of cooked meat. Hexanal and total volatiles represented the lipid oxidation status better than any other individual volatile components.