Different Approaches in Reformulation of Dry Fermented Sausages

Abstract

Salting is considered to be one of the oldest food preservation techniques. In the past, salt that was used in meat product formulations always contained different types of impurities, among which were sodium nitrite and potassium nitrite. Today, nitrite salts are considered to be one of the most important additives in processed meat production. Due to their negative impact on human health, however, the industry has a challenge to find suitable ways to reduce nitrite content in meat products or to remove nitrites altogether from meat product formulations. Another challenge facing the meat industry is the formulation of low-fat products or products containing vegetable oils, which have more favourable n-3/n-6 fatty acid ratios than animal fats. Next, since excessive intake of sodium chloride was found to have negative effects on human health, the industry has to find a way to reduce the amount of this salt in meat products or to replace sodium chloride with different salts in order to meet consumer demands. In this paper, we review different approaches to reducing nitrites, fatty tissue and sodium chloride in dry fermented sausages.