Effects of natural (grape seed and chestnut extract) and synthetic antioxidants (buthylatedhydroxytoluene, BHT) on the physical, chemical, microbiological and sensory characteristics of dry cured sausage chorizo

The effect of natural (grape seed and chestnut extract) and synthetic antioxidants (buthylatedhydroxytoluene, BHT) on the physico-chemical, lipid oxidation, microbial and sensory characteristics of dry-fermented sausage were investigated during the ripening period. The addition of natural antioxidant extracts had a significant effect (P < 0.05) on redness, leading to higher a* values compared to the control group. Addition of antioxidants decreased (P < 0.001) the oxidation as determined by TBARS, with greater reductions in sausages treated with natural antioxidants than BHT. On the other hand, the addition of antioxidants decreased (P < 0.001) hardness. At the end of the ripening process, LAB counts were affected (P < 0.001) by the addition of antioxidants since higher counts were observed in sausages prepared with chestnut extract (8.2 log(10) CFU/g) and control batch (8.1 log(10) CFU/g). Addition of antioxidants reduced (P > 0.05) the total volatile compounds from lipid oxidation in the following order: chestnut extract > control > BHT > grape seed, being their mean values of 153, 147, 126 and 113 x 10(6) area units, respectively. Higher hexanal contents were found in the control (16.8 x 10(6) area units) than in grape seed (2.27 x 10(6) area units) and BHT (2.19 x 10(6) area units) sausages, while in chestnut treated sausages hexanal was not detect. Sensorial analysis showed the following order of acceptability: grape seed = BHT > chestnut extract = control group. Overall, our results indicated that grape seed was the most effective antioxidant and that natural antioxidants were more effective than synthetic antioxidants. This study demonstrated that grape seed and chestnut extracts could be utilized in the production of dry-cured sausages to enhance quality and provide safer products. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.