Understanding salt reduction in fat-reduced hot dog sausages: Network structure, emulsion stability and consumer acceptance.

High sodium and fat contents are cause of concerns for industries and consumers of meat products. Direct reduction of NaCl and fat is a useful strategy to understand how these ingredients interfere with the quality parameters of an emulsified meat product and how to reduce them without significant changes from the original product. The aim of this work was to understand salt reduction in fat-reduced (10 g fat/100 g product) hot dog sausages. Five NaCl concentrations were tested: 1% (F1), 1.25% (F1.25), 1.50% (F1.50), 1.75% (F1.75) and 2% (F2 - control). Proximate composition, sodium content, water activity, pH, emulsion stability, color, texture, scanning electron microscopy results and sensory attributes (just-about-right and acceptance tests) were assessed. Emulsion stability decreased (P < 0.05) with salt reduction. Salt reduction increased water activity. Microscopic images showed a more compact matrix with the decrease in salt content. Sausages with the minimum (F1) and maximum (F2) amounts of salt were less accepted by consumers. A reduction of 26.8% of sodium can be obtained (with the formulation F1.25), allowing the labeling of sodium-reduced sausage and with acceptance by consumers.

Partial replacement of pork fat by Echium oil in reduced sodium bologna sausages: technological, nutritional and stability implications.

BACKGROUND: The present research aimed to evaluate the nutritional, technological, microstructural and sensory characteristics of bologna sausages made with pork fat replaced with Echium oil. Three different treatments were processed, all of them with approximately 35% less sodium than a regular bologna-type sausage: Control (only pork backfat addition) and T25 and T50 (replacement of 25 and 50% of the added animal fat with Echium oil respectively). RESULTS: Proximate composition, texture profile analysis, fatty acid profile and microstructure were evaluated to characterize the products. In refrigerated storage, the following characteristics were assessed: thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) index, objective color, pH value, microbiological counts and sensory acceptance. Both samples with Echium oil (T25 and T50) showed a healthier lipid profile, with high omega-3 content, mainly from α-linolenic and stearidonic fatty acids, consequently presenting better (P ≤ 0.05) values of nutritional indices than the Control. However, the replacement of 50% animal fat with Echium oil negatively affected (P ≤ 0.05) most of the technological characteristics and the sensory acceptance of bolognas. In contrast, the treatment with 25% replacement did not show significant differences in most of the evaluated parameters compared with the Control sample. CONCLUSION: Thus the replacement of 25% of pork backfat with Echium oil in bologna sausages can be recommended, representing a good balance between nutritional gains and sensory impairment. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.