Exploring Iberian ham triacylglycerols: Unraveling the influence of growing area, season, breed, and feeding patterns through innovative compositional data analysis

This research examined the triacylglycerol composition of Iberian pig hams from Sevilla province, focusing on the influence of growing area, season, breed, age, montanera duration, and feeding types. Compositional data analysis (CoDA) tools and standard multivariate statistics were employed to analyse the original and CoDa-transformed data. ANOVA (ilr) and ANCOVA (log ratios) revealed significant effects of season, feeding type, and towns on triacylglycerol profiles, while montanera showed limited or no effect. Breeds and age were deemed irrelevant. Various discriminant analysis (DA) methods consistently distinguished samples from the 2004/2005 season and the cebo feeding type but struggled with other distinctions. PLS-R analysis indicated that bellota feeding was associated with triacylglycerols rich in oleic acid, while cebo was predominantly linked to those containing palmitic and stearic acids. The study challenges traditional assumptions about the effects of montanera, breeds, and age on Iberian pig hams and highlights the need for further investigation. [Display omitted] •Sevillian Iberian ham triacylglycerols were studied by compositional data analysis.•The breed did not affect the hams' diacylglycerol profiles.•Specific season conditions mainly changed the hams' triacylglycerol profiles.•Feeding type “cebo” promoted triacylglycerols with palmitic and stearic but not oleic.•The effect of montanera and the age of pigs required further clarification.