Meat Products Manufactured with Olive Oil

Consumer perception of processed meat products is a critical issue for the meat industry. In recent years consumers are increasingly conscious about healthy diet. However, most of the processed meat products contain high amounts of fat, which are related to chronic diseases such as obesity and cardiovascular heart diseases. Health organizations have suggested to reduce the intake of total dietary fat, particularly saturated fatty acids and cholesterol, as a mean to prevent cardiovascular heart diseases (NCEP, 1988). Consumers now want low or reduced-animal fat products with high palatability and nutritional quality (Pietrasik & Duda, 2000).