The effect of salt replacers and flavor enhancer on the processing characteristics and consumer acceptance of turkey sausages

BACKGROUNDProducing high-quality processed meats that contain reduced amounts of sodium chloride is a major challenge facing industry owing to the importance of sodium chloride toward the functional, microbial stability and sensory properties of these products. In order to create reduced sodium alternatives, a number of commercial salt replacers and flavor enhancers have entered the market; however, their ability to be applied in processed meats requires investigation. In this study, two salt replacers (Ocean's Flavor-OF45, OF60) and one flavor enhancer (Fonterra Savoury Powder-SP) were evaluated for their ability to effectively reduce sodium while maintaining the functional and sensory properties of turkey sausages. Functionality via instrumental measures (yield, purge loss, pH, expressible moisture, proximate composition, sodium content, color, texture), safety (microbiological assessment) and consumer acceptability were obtained on all samples. RESULTSAll non-control treatments resulted in products with sodium chloride contents below Canada's Health Check Program target for processed meats. There was no detrimental effect on water binding and texture in treatments when NaCl was substituted with OF60 sea salt replacers. Sodium reduction had no negative effect on the shelf life of the turkey sausages with up to 60 days of refrigerated storage. Consumer acceptability for all attributes did not differ significantly, except for aftertaste, which scored lowest for OF45 compared with the control (regular NaCl content). CONCLUSIONThis work demonstrated that salt replacers could potentially substitute for NaCl in smoked turkey sausages; however, further flavor optimization may be required to suppress undesirable levels of bitterness elicited by some of these ingredients. (c) 2014 Society of Chemical Industry