Precise nutritional labelling of sliced packaged dry-cured ham using multi-energy X-ray absorptiometry

Abstract

New consumer demands have increased the need for improved food processing and new value-added products that meet the latest quality standards. Changes in eating habits may lead to a preference for lower sodium products, making accurate labelling and nutritional claims important for the industry. The aim of this work was to study the application of Multi-energy X-ray absorptiometry (MEXA) for the determination of nutritional information in sliced packaged dry-cured ham for the industry. The effect of the acquisition conditions, the analysis approach, fat content and measured area of slices, as well as the potential of this technology for the inclusion of a verified 'salt reduced' nutritional claim, were analyzed in two industrial case studies. Two hundred and ten packets of sliced dry-cured ham were scanned using MEXA equipment. Two regions of interest were selected to study the effect of thickness on the model's precision. Salt content could be predicted with a RMSEP of 0.346% and 0.403% when acquisition conditions were 80 keV and 110 keV respectively. When used by the industry, the classification performance for a 'salt reduced' labelling claim depends on the mean salt content and heterogeneity of the company's production and on the threshold value selected for class definition. However, to support consumers personalized nutrition through precise labelling, implementation of MEXA technology together with labelling system is necessary.

Keywords: Consumers; Non-destructive technologies; Nutritional claims; Nutritional facts; Precise characterization; Salt.