Nutritional characterization of some Romanian mountain products

Abstract

The consumer demand for healthy and natural products lead to the increased interest of consuming mountain food products. The objective of this work was to evaluate the physical-chemical and sensory characteristics of 8 dairy products and 11 meat products collected from different mountainous pastures from Romania. The protein content of dairy products varied between 37.39-47.90% d.m., while the fat content ranged between 43.63-49.57% d.m. For meat products, the protein content and fat content ranged between 11.69-70.07% d.m., and 17.58-95.92 % d.m., respectively. The fatty acid composition of mountain products was influenced by the pasture location, a better PUFA content being determined for products obtained from farms situated at a higher altitude. This research highlights that the quality of mountain products is strongly influenced by the pasture effects, the type of product analyzed and the technological process.