Chitosan Gel Prepared with Citric Acid as the Food Acidulant: Effect of the Chitosan Concentration and Gel pH on Physicochemical and Functional Properties of Fish Protein Emulsion Sausages.

Citric acid is a popular food acidulant with versatile utility as a preservative and acidity regulator in the meat industry, owing to its unique three pK a values, which can be combined with the natural biopolymer chitosan to improve food quality. The scientific incorporation of a minimal range of chitosan and pH through organic acid additions for chitosan solubilization in the fish sausages can effectively improve their quality through their synergistic effect. Optimum conditions for emulsion stability, gel strength, and water holding capacity were found to be at a low concentration of chitosan, that is, 0.15 g at pH of 5.0, with their corresponding values of 42.55 ± 0.43 N mm, 94.91 ± 0.24, and 90.67 ± 0.50%. Lower pH ranges increased hardness and springiness values, and higher pH levels increased cohesiveness values at varying ranges of chitosan. Sensory analysis revealed tangy and sour flavors in the samples with lower pH.

Chitosan hydrogel inclusion in fish mince based emulsion sausages: Effect of gel interaction on functional and physicochemical qualities.

Chitosan has been reported to possess diverse applications in food industry. The cross linking properties of chitosan beneficially affects the protein-carbohydrate interactions which in turn enhances the functional properties in emulsion based meat products. In this context, the current study was conducted to incorporate hydrogel with different concentrations of chitosan (0%, 0.125%, 0.25%, 0.375% and 0.5%) into fish mince (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) sausages in order to develop a functional sausage products with appealing flavour and desirable texture. The comparative analysis of various functional properties of the produced sausages showed that inclusion of chitosan gel had significant effect (p < 0.05) on the emulsion stability, gel-strength, pH, cooking yield, WHC, structural-compactness, texture, colour and sensory attributes of the products when compared with control. Further, from the study, it can be inferred that, sausages with 0.25% chitosan content (CS-2) uphold the best necessary functional and physiochemical attributes and presumed to be a superior ready-to eat product.