APRECIAÇÃO DA QUALIDADE DOS PATÉS DE FÍGADO DO MERCADO PORTUGUÊS QUALITY EVALUATION OF LIVER PATES FROM PORTUGUESE MARKET EVALUACIÓN DE LA CALIDAD DE PATES DE HÍGADO DEL MERCADO PORTUGUÉS

Abstract Resumen Resumo The quality of liver pates commercialised in the portuguese national market was determined by chemical assays including evaluation of nutritional value, trans fatty acid composition and monitorization of nitrates, nitrites and antioxidants. A total of 45 samples of liver pates (15 brands and 3 batches for brands) were randomly purchased from the Porto retail market. Portuguese official methods (NPs) were used for determination of the main components and evaluation of the nutritional value. The quality of the extracted fat was evaluated using the fatty acid diagram. The proportion of saturated: monounsaturated polyunsaturated fatty acids was 35:40:25, and the mean value of trans fatty acids was 0.7% ± 0.32. The fat alteration was determined by the free acidity (mean value 2.3± 1.2 g of oleic acid/100 g of product) and the peroxide value (7 ± 7.0 mEq of O2/L). The levels of nitrites and nitrates were determined using a FIA methodology. The mean values obtained were 7.56 ± 4.5 mg/Kg o...