Content of sugar in meat products from the Croatian market
Sugars are used in the production of meat products to produce lactic acid and to achieve specific sensory properties, thus ensuring the quality and stability of the final product. The aim of this paper was to determine the differences in sucrose, glucose and fructose sugar levels in meat products from different categories available on the Croatian market. A total of 140 samples were analyzed from the category of fermented (n = 41) and heat treated (n = 82) sausages and dry cured meat products (n = 17). For the determination of the sugar level, a validated enzyme method was used. Within each of the three investigated categories the highest sucrose content (0.21-0.87%) was determined, followed by fructose (0.10-0.39%) and the lowest glucose (0.05-0.06%). The total sugar content, as a sum of sucrose, fructose and glucose, was 1.32% in the category of heat treated sausages, 0.36% in fermented sausages and 0.47% in dry cured meat products. The results of the research indicate the variation in the quantity of added sugar in meat products from the Croatian market, with total shares ranging from 1 to 2%, depending on the type of product and the producer's recipe, according to the literature of other authors for the same category of meat products.