Effects of genotype, salt content and calibre on quality of traditional dry-fermented sausages

Abstract

a b s t r a c tThe increasing demand for traditional food products is concomitant with higher nutritional and health concerns. The effect of genotype, salt content and calibre on physicochemical, microbiological and texture parameters, along with sensory acceptability, was studied on low-salt Portuguese traditional dryfermented sausages. A few significant differences were found in different microbial counts between different pork genotypes' sausages. Lauric and stearic fatty acids showed significantly higher values for hybrid genotype products, while contents in gadoleic, heneicosanoic, linoleic and linolenic acids were higher in Alentejano pork sausages. Unexpectedly, there are no significant differences between genotypes for oleic acid, although lower contents were found in the Alentejano genotype. Texture Profile Analysis revealed significant differences in hardness, adhesiveness, resilience and chewiness between genotypes, with Alentejano pork sausages being softer and thus easier to chew. Salt reduction does not negatively affect the quality and acceptability of sausages. Furthermore, the use of hybrid genotype meat does not mischaracterise a product traditionally made exclusively of Alentejano pig meat.

Impact of salt reduction on biogenic amines, fatty acids, microbiota, texture and sensory profile in traditional blood dry-cured sausages

“…The presence of higher amounts of salt also allowed a more intense soluble protein extraction from muscle cells and increased the buffer effect. Thus, higher salt concentrations favour higher pH values, which has also been observed in previous works (Laranjo et al, 2015). pH of our end-products is characteristic of slowly cured meat products, despite the observed pH increase throughout the ripening process due to proteolytic activity of microorganisms.…”

“…Microbiological analyses were carried out according the analytical protocols described by Laranjo et al (2015). Briefly, decimal dilution series were prepared in buffered peptone water (Scharlau, Spain), plated and incubated as follows: mesophiles in Tryptone Glucose Extract (TGE) Agar (Scharlau, Spain) at 30°C for 48 h; lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in de Man, Rogosa and Sharpe (MRS) Agar (Scharlau, Spain) at 30°C for 48 h under anaerobic conditions in an AnaeroJar (Oxoid, UK) using an AnaeroGen sachet (Oxoid, UK); enterobacteria in Violet Red Bile Glucose (VRBG) Agar (Biokar, France) at 30°C for 48 h; enterococci in Slanetz and Bartley Agar (Biokar, France) at 37°C for 48 h; staphylococci in Mannitol Salt Agar (MSA) (Biokar, France) at 37°C for 48 h; yeasts and moulds in Rose Bengal Chloramphenicol Agar (Scharlau, Spain) at 25°C for 5 days.…”

“…Procedures regarding fatty acid profile analysis were based in method previously published by Laranjo et al (2015). Briefly, fatty acids extraction was carried out in triplicate by accelerated solvent extraction (ASE), using a Dionex 100 system equipped with a 34 mL stainless steel cell (fitted with two cellulose filters) followed by their derivatization in order to give fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs), which were further determined using a GC system (Hewlett Packard 6890 Series) equipped with split-splitless injector, an auto-sampler, a flame-ionisation detector (FID), an Omegawax 320 fused silica capillary column (30 m  0.32 mm i.d., 0.25 lm film thickness, Supelco, Bellefonte, PA, USA) and HPChem software (2002).…”

“…Texture profile analysis (TPA) tests were performed at room temperature (20°C ± 1°C) according the analytical protocol from Laranjo et al (2015) . A cylindrical flat-ended plunger (with a diameter of 1.13 cm and an area of 1 cm 2 ) coupled to a Stable Micro System TA-Hdi (Stable Micro Systems, Godalming, England) was used in double compression cycle tests of five slices with 1 cm thick and 4-5 cm (for PP) and 2-2.5 cm (for CP) diameter from three different sausages.…”

Characterisation of “Catalão” and “Salsichão” Portuguese traditional sausages with salt reduction

“…Microbial analyses were performed following the analytical protocols described by Laranjo et al (2015). For that purpose, 10 g of each sample were diluted into 90 mL of peptone water (BDH Prolabo), decimal dilutions prepared, pour-plated and incubated as follows: mesophilic bacteria in Tryptone Glucose Extract (TGE) Agar (Scharlau) at 30°C for 48 h; lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in de Man, Rogosa and Sharpe (MRS) Agar (Scharlau) at 30°C for 48 h under anaerobic conditions in an AnaeroJar (Oxoid) using an AnaeroGen sachet (Oxoid); enterobacteria in Violet Red Bile Glucose Agar (VRBG) (Biokar) at 30°C for 48 h; enterococci in Slanetz and Bartley Agar (Biokar) at 37°C for 48 h, staphylococci in Mannitol Salt Agar (MSA) (Biokar) at 37°C for 48 h; yeasts and moulds in Rose Bengal Chloramphenicol (RBC) (Scharlau) at 25°C for 48 h. Campylobacter spp.…”