# Characterization of Quality Properties in Spoiled Mianning Ham
## 3 Results and Discussion
### Physical and Chemical Index Analyses
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline
**Physicochemical Indexes** & **FBS** & **FBQ** & **ZC** \\ \hline Moisture content (g/100 g) & 44.7 \(\pm\) 1.032 a  & 39.99 \(\pm\) 0.146 b  & 38.85 \(\pm\) 0.33 b  \\ a\({}_{\rm w}\) & 0.945 \(\pm\) 0.042 a  & 0.88 \(\pm\) 0.007 b  & 0.852 \(\pm\) 0.006 b  \\ pH & 6.51 \(\pm\) 0.15 a  & 6.31 \(\pm\) 0.01 b  & 5.93 \(\pm\) 0.15 c  \\ Chloride (g/100 g) & 5.18 \(\pm\) 0.3 a  & 6.16 \(\pm\) 0.17 b  & 8.29 \(\pm\) 0.38 c  \\ Malondialdehydedehyde (mg/kg) & 1.93 \(\pm\) 0.15a  & 1.55 \(\pm\) 0.13 b  & 0.98 \(\pm\) 0.94 c  \\ \multicolumn{2}{c}{Color deviation} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{Color deviation} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{} \\ \(L^{*}\) & 47.51 \(\pm\) 0.82 a  & 44.9 \(\pm\) 0.22 b  & 41.76 \(\pm\) 0.97 c  \\ \(a^{*}\) & 10.04 \(\pm\) 0.86 a  & 12.53 \(\pm\) 0.37 b  & 13.18 \(\pm\) 0.17 b  \\ \(b^{*}\) & 9.32 \(\pm\) 0.58 a  & 8.25 \(\pm\) 0.26 b  & 7.46 \(\pm\) 0.22 c  \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Physicochemical characteristics of normal and spoiled Mianning hams. that the use of 18% potassium lactate + 12% lysine + 70% NaCl instead of 30% NaCl for fermented dry-cured ham resulted in better quality and flavor, with a 15.71% reduction in salt content [28]. The level of malondialdehydedehyde, the end product of fat oxidation, reflects the degree of spoilage of the ham. The malondialdehydedehyde content of deeply spoiled ham and surface spoiled ham was 1.93 \(\pm\) 0.15 mg/kg and 1.55 \(\pm\) 0.13 mg/kg, respectively, which was significantly higher than that of normal ham (0.98 \(\pm\) 0.94 mg/kg) (\(p<0.05\)). The muscle color of dry-cured ham is one of the most important indicators to evaluate its eating quality. The main chromogenic substances in ham are myoglobin-like and hemoglobin and its derivatives [29]. The \(L^{*}\) (lightness) and the \(a^{*}\) (redness) directly reflect the color quality of meat and meat products and are widely used for meat color analysis. The \(L^{*}\) of the three ham samples were significantly different (FBS > FBQ > ZC) (\(p<0.05\)), and the color of spoiled ham was much lighter than that of normal ham. It was found that lightness was related to the thin layer of water on the surface of the muscle tissue, implying that moisture and hydration affect the lightness of dry-cured hams. Therefore, the higher moisture content in the deeply spoiled ham and surface spoiled ham may be a factor for the higher lightness values of these hams [30]. The \(a^{*}\) of surface spoiled ham and normal ham was significantly higher than for deeply spoiled ham (\(p<0.05\)). A spectroscopic analysis of pigmented material in Parma ham conducted by [PERSON] et al. showed that large amounts of pigments were produced with increasing curing and fermentation time, but these pigments were not nitroso-myoglobin; they were probably some compounds containing trivalent iron ion ligands with good oxidative stability [31]. This may explain the redder coloration of spoiled ham [32]. It has been shown that the \(a^{*}\) is highly positively correlated with the NaCl concentration [33]. The \(b^{*}\) (yellowness) is usually extremely unstable during processing, but dry-cured ham exhibits relatively stable \(b^{*}\) values due to the long processing period. The \(b^{*}\) of deeply spoiled ham (9.32 \(\pm\) 0.58) was significantly higher than that of surface spoiled ham (8.25 \(\pm\) 0.26) and normal ham (7.46 \(\pm\) 0.22) (\(p<0.05\)). The \(b^{*}\) increases when oxygenation or oxidation of myoglobin occurs [34].