STUDY ON THE NUTRITIONAL QUALITY OF REFRIGERATED BEEF HAMBURGERS

Gabriela Frunză, Cecilia Pop

Abstract
   The study aimed a comparative analysis of the nutritional quality of the refrigerated beef hamburgers by determining the gross chemical composition (the content in lipids, water, salt, ash and proteins, including the proportion of collagen) and respectively of theirs energy value. Thirty products were analyzed, five for each producer (manufacturers coding: A, B, C, D, E and F). The proteins, lipids, collagen, salt and water content was determined using the automated analyzer Food Check (infrared spectrophotometer); mineral substances were determined by calcination at 550 0C and the carbohydrates content and energy value were determined by calculation, using conventional formulas. The most important differences between the all six type products analyzed, have targeted the content of lipids, with difference of 56.35% (21.40% lipids for product F, compared with 12.06% lipids for product A). Only producer B, of the six studied, did not add salt in the composition of hamburgers. The obtained data were statistically processed by classical methods and through the test for analysis of variance ANOVA (Graph Pad Prism 8.1 software). Mostly significant (p<0.01) and very significant differences (p<0.001) were observed between the all hamburger categories analyzed, at the level of chemical composition with exception of protein content where predominantly insignificant differences were observed (p>0.05).