Investigating the Effects of Chinese Cabbage Powder as an Alternative Nitrate Source on Cured Color Development of Ground Pork Sausages

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of Chinese cabbage powder as a natural replacement for sodium nitrite on the qualities of alternatively cured pork products. Chinese cabbages grown in Korea were collected and used for preparing hot air dried powder. Different levels of Chinese cabbage powder were added to pork products and evaluated by comparing these products to those with sodium nitrite or a commercially available celery juice powder. The experimental groups included control (100 ppm sodium nitrite added), treatment 1 (0.15% Chinese cabbage powder added), treatment 2 (0.25% Chinese cabbage powder added), treatment 3 (0.35% Chinese cabbage powder added), and treatment 4 (0.4% celery juice powder added). The cooking yields and pH values of treatments 1 to 3 were significantly lower (p<0.05) than the control. However, all of the alternatively cured products were redder (higher CIE a* values; p<0.05) than the control and this result was supported from higher nitrosyl hemochrome, total pigment, and curing efficiency. Furthermore, the inclusion of vegetable powders to these products resulted in considerably less residual nitrite content. However, Chinese cabbage powder (0.25% and 0.35%) was effective in producing alternatively cured meat products with a higher curing efficiency comparable to those of the traditionally cured control or the products with celery juice powder. Therefore, Chinese cabbage powder exhibited the efficacy for use as a natural replacer for alternatively cured meat products.

Use of Green Tea Extract and Rosemary Extract in Naturally Cured Pork Sausages with White Kimchi Powder

“…Similar results were reported when using 0.15% to 0.30% radish powder with 0.05% sodium ascorbate in alternatively cured pork products (Bae et al, 2020). However, the total pigment content found in naturally cured sausages (from 51.68 ppm to 54.29 ppm) in this study was slightly higher than that obtained in pork sausages cured with Chinese cabbage powder (from 48.62 ppm to 49.13 ppm) (Jeong et al, 2020b) and in pork products cured with radish powder (from 45.73 ppm to 45.90 ppm) (Bae et al, 2020). In this sense, the addition of green tea extract powder and rosemary extract powder may have played a role in the formation of meat pigments in the final products.…”

“…In this study, a lower residual nitrite content in all naturally cured sausages (treatments 1 to 6) was observed when compared to control sausages (p<0.05) (Table 3). Several previous studies using nitrate-rich plant substitutes as natural sources to replace synthetic nitrite in alternatively cured meat products have shown a similar trend Jeong et al, 2020a;Jeong et al, 2020b;Sebranek and Bacus, 2007a;Yong et al, 2021). These results could be interpreted in two ways.…”

“…However, in this study, there were no differences (p>0.05) in cooking yield for products cured with white kimchi powder or celery juice powder, regardless of addition level or combinations of green tea extract powder and rosemary extract powder. Jeong et al (2020b) found that pork sausages cured with 0.15% to 0.35% Chinese cabbage powders had a similar cooking yield to those cured with 0.4% commercial celery juice powders. Considering the quality of meat products and industrial use, a low cooking yield may have negative impacts on both manufacturers and consumers.…”

“…When the amount of green tea extract powder or rosemary extract powder increased from 0.05% to 0.1% (treatments 2 and 4) or when both were added in combination (treatments 5 and 6), the CIE b* value significantly increased (p<0.05). Several previous reports indicate that pigments in plant-based ingredients that replace nitrite/nitrate may affect the yellowness of the meat products ( Bae et al, 2020 ; Horsch et al, 2014 ; Jeong et al, 2020b ; Kim et al, 2019 ; Riel et al, 2017 ). Horsch et al (2014) reported that yellowness in hams increased with increasing celery concentrate concentration, likely because the plant-derived concentrate includes plant pigments.…”

“…In this process, a starter culture such as Staphylococcus carnosus, which has nitrite-reducing activity, facilitates the production of nitrite from natural nitrate (Sebranek and Bacus, 2007a). As a result, naturally cured products have similar quality characteristics to traditionally cured products (Choi et al, 2020;Jeong et al, 2020a;Jeong et al, 2020b;Krause et al, 2011;Sebranek and Bacus, 2007a;Sucu and Turp, 2018). However, most naturally cured meat products generally have a lower residual nitrite concentration and relatively large variation compared to traditionally cured meat products (Sebranek and Bacus, 2007a;Sindelar et al, 2007;Yong et al, 2021).…”