Fatty Acid Profile and Hazard Index of Ready-to-Eat Foods Available in the Market: A Risk Survey

Dietary fat is of necessary macronutrients for body health. According to the guidelines, up to 10% of calories can be supplied by saturated fat. Moreover, intake of trans fats should be reduced up to zero, if possible. Owing to the increasing share of ready-to-eat foods in the daily basket, we aimed to analyze these types of foods to determine their fatty acid profile, and the hazard indices of atherogenicity and thrombogenicity.

Four types of industrial and seven types of retail ready-to-eat foods were purchased from local markets. The fatty acid profile was determined using a gas chromatograph-flame ionization detector.

According to our results, trans fats were found at very low levels in the products. The amount of saturated and trans fats increased by increasing the concentration of meat. In comparison, the most concentration of unsaturated fatty acids was observed in the products prepared with vegetable oils and/or nonmeat ingredients, including sausage, salami, falafel, and samosa. Among the fatty acids, palmitic, oleic, and linoleic acids were predominant in both industrial and retail foods. Evaluation of hazard indices in the foods revealed that both atherogenicity (0.2-0.85) and thrombogenicity (0.46-1.51) indexes were within the normal ranges, except for industrially packed hamburger with a thrombogenicity index of 3.7 due to its high stearic acid.

Considering the low atherogenicity and thrombogenicity indexes, we concluded that the ready-to-eat foods did not compromise the health of the consumers. It was approved by the low ratio of SFA/USFA in almost all the products.