Abstract: Lipid peroxidation is an important factor that affects the quality and safety of traditional ham, and concerned by both companies and consumers. In this study, spraying dual antioxidants followed by chitosan coating and vacuum packaging in the presence of a special purpose deoxidant prepared by ourselves was used to treat diced traditional Jinhua ham before storage at normal temperature. The effects of deoxidant amount (calculated on the basis of the mass of Fe), chitosan coating concentration and different dual antioxidant combinations (0.05% tea ployphenols + 0.05% rosemary, 1% grape seed extract + 0.05% rosemary and 0.05% rosemary + 0.05% vitamin E) on the peroxidation value (POV), thiobarbituric acid reactive species (TBARs) value and color parameters (a* and b*) of the muscle and fat parts of Jinhua ham were evaluated based on orthogonal array design. After 6 months (from spring through autumn) of storage, the muscle POV and TBARs value of the sample sprayed with 0.05% rosemary + 0.05% vitamin E, coated with 2.5% chitosan and vacuum packaged at 2.0 g Fe deoxidation level were 3.15 meq/kg and 0.27 mg/kg, which revealed a significant decline (P ＜0.05) compared with the untreated control sample and were both within the national and internationally recognized limit ranges (POV ＜ 19.7 meq/kg, TBARs value ＜1 mg/kg). Meanwhile, the sensory quality of Jinhua ham was better maintained even after such a long period of storage due to the treatments.

Key words:  diced ham, natural antioxidant, deoxidant, lipid oxidation, color