Context

The SATURN project aims to carry out a pilot project to study the technological feasibility of the recovery of the fat fraction rich in unsaturated fatty acids obtained from the fractionation processes of the various trimmings generated during the cutting of pork meat. The incorporation of an ingredient rich in unsaturated fatty acids can improve the health profile of meat and meat products while providing more palatable sensory attributes in various food matrices or become a seasoning ingredient in itself. Currently, there is a by-product (abattoir trimmings) that is 60-70% fat, of which a significant fraction corresponds to a polyunsaturated profile. The interest in recovering these fatty acids from pig carcasses lies in the fact that these unsaturated fatty acids, which are mainly oleic acid, from the omega-9 family, and linoleic acid, from the omega-6 family, are known to be healthy for maintaining cardiovascular health in humans. Furthermore, the incorporation of these unsaturated fatty acid-rich fractions into food products could lead to more palatable products, as well as increase in their nutritional value. Fractionation is a unit operation based on cooling the fat to a certain temperature in order to separate the crystallised fraction. In this process there is no modification of the internal structure of the fat molecules, it is only a selective separation process of the triglycerides based on the differences in the melting points of the fats. Therefore, the proposal involves a process of studying the recovery of the unsaturated fraction of the different pork trimmings.