Impact of ultraviolet light and cold plasma on fatty acid profile of raw chicken and pork meat

This study aimed to determine the impact of UV light and cold plasma technologies on the fatty acid profile (FAP) of raw chicken breasts and pork chops using different treatments. Diced and minced chicken samples and minced pork samples were exposed for 6 min to UV light at 255, 280, 300, 365 or 280 + 300 nm using a light-emitting diode device (LED) and a UV lamp conveyor at 254 nm. A plasma jet was used for 6 min with N<inf>2</inf>, CO<inf>2</inf> or air (0 and 24 h) for minced chicken and pork samples. Moreover, chicken dices were submerged for 10 min into plasma activated water (PAW) generated with N<inf>2</inf> and air. FAPs of samples were determined by Gas Chromatography-Flame Ionisation Detection. In general, UV light and cold plasma treatments increased the concentration of some fatty acids by up to 0.2 % and N<inf>2</inf> PAW resulted in a maximum increase of 1.4 % in the linoleic acid concentration. However, none of these changes had a significant impact on fatty acid groups and nutritional quality indices of chicken and pork meat highlighting the technologies’ potential for the decontamination of meats without impacting their nutritional quality.