Research on the water-holding capacity of pork sausage with acetate cassava starch

The water-holding capacity properties of native and acetate cassava starch were evaluated by freeze-thaw stability and XRD. The results indicated that acetate starch was suitable to be used in sausage for its more stable and lower retrogradation properties compared to native starch. The water-holding capacity (WHC) of pork sausages with acetate starch was analyzed by NMR T-2 relaxometry, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and SEM. NMR T-2 relaxometry and MRI displayed the significant effect of acetate starch on the water content in sausages. Water-holding capacity of sausages first increased then decreased with increase of acetate starch. The sausage with 5%w/w acetate starch had the highest content of immobilized water. The result was consistent with the data indirectly obtained from DSC. SEM analysis demonstrated that the sausage with 5%w/w acetate starch had appropriate structure and pore size to hold water. Therefore, we concluded that the sausage with 5%w/w acetate starch had the best WHC property in pork sausages.