This manuscript is reviewing the presence of substances of safety concern that may be generated in different types of meat products. Such substances include N-nitrosamines that can be generated under certain conditions when using nitrite as preservative, the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons generated as a consequence of particular smoking processes, heterocyclic aromatic amines generated under particular cooking conditions, compounds released from the oxidation of lipids and proteins, Maillard reaction products like acrylamide and carboxymethyl lysine, and amines that can be generated and accumulated in fermented meats. These hazardous compounds, their mechanisms of generation, risks for health and ways of preventing its presence in meat products are briefly described in this review.

Food-derived bioactive peptides are promising compounds for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases, the main cause of mortality in developed countries. The aim of this work was to determine the in vitro anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE-I) inhibitory activities of twenty-four peptides that were identified in Spanish dry-cured hams. For the first time, some peptides such as PSNPP, HCNKKYRSEM and FNMPLTIRITPGSKA showed anti-inflammatory activity expressed as platelet-activating factor-acetylhydrolase, autotaxin, and lipoxygenase inhibition. Peptides MDPKYR and TKYRVP were the strongest antioxidants, whereas GGVPGG, TKYRVP, and HCNKKYRSEM showed the highest ACE-I inhibitory activity. Additionally, several peptides such as KPVAAP, MDPKYR, TKYRVP, HCNKKYRSEM exerted more than one of the assayed activities, increasing their health-enhancing potential. More studies are needed to evaluate the bioavailability of such peptides and their in vivo effect. This would contribute to consider dry-cured ham as a source of peptides beneficial for cardiovascular health.