Autor(es): Laranjo, Marta ; Gomes, Ana ; Agulheiro-Santos, A.C. ; Potes, M.E. ; Cabrita, Maria J. ; Garcia, Raquel ; Rocha, João M. ; Roseiro, Luísa C. ; Fernandes, Maria J. ; Fraqueza, Maria J. ; Elias, Miguel
Data: 2017
Identificador Persistente: http://hdl.handle.net/10174/20275
Origem: Repositório Científico da Universidade de Évora
Assunto(s): biogenic amines; microbiological parameters; food safety; sensory attributes
Health issues such as cardiovascular disease are often due to dietary habits. Thus, meat industry needs to reduce salt in their products. However, production of low-salt content dry-cured not affected. The current study evaluated the effect of salt reduction from 6% to 3% in two Portuguese traditional blood dry-cured sausages. Physicochemical and microbiological parameters, biogenic amines content, fatty acids profile, texture profile analyses and sensory panel evaluations were considered. Differences due to salt reduction were noticeable in a faint increase in water activity, which slightly favoured microbial growth, with the highest yeasts numbers found in 6% salt sausages. Total biogenic amines content ranged from 224.72 to 1302.81 mg kg-1 dry matter, with higher amounts, particularly of cadaverine, histamine and tyramine, in low-salt products. Still, histamine significant differences were observed due to salt content. However, texture profile analysis revealed that low-salt products showed lower resilience and cohesiveness, even though no textural changes were observed by the panellists. Nevertheless, low-salt sausages were clearly preferred. Still, taking the safety of these traditional meat products into account, the results obtained for pH, aw and biogenic amines, have shown that a reduction in salt content should be accompanied by complementary safety measures, such as the use of starter cultures to minimise microbiological and chemical risks.
