Figure 5.

Changes in protein oxidation products in dry-cured loins formulated with different amounts of NO₂Na/NO₃K (0, 37.5, 75, and 150 mg/kg) during in vitro gastrointestinal digestion: (a) protein carbonyls; (b) thiols. The time 2 min represents the end of the oral phase, time 120 min, the end of the gastric phase; meanwhile, times 150 and 180 min represent intermediate times of the intestinal phase that ends at time 240 min. *: p < 0.05; **: p < 0.01; ***: p < 0.001. a,b: Means for the same time of sampling with different letters are significantly different (p ≤ 0.05, Tukey’s test).