Impacts of Irradiation Sources on Quality Attributes of Low-salt Sausage during Refrigerated Storage.

This study was performed to investigate the impacts of irradiation sources on quality attributes of low-salt sausage during refrigerated storage. Control sausage was prepared with 1.5% sodium chloride (NaCl), whereas low-salt sausage was formulated with 0.75% NaCl (a 50% reduction; L-control). Sausage samples were vacuum-packaged, and low-sausages were irradiated with gamma-ray, electron-beam and X-ray at 5 kGy, respectively. The samples were stored at 4°C for 28 d to determine changes in quality attributes. The pH of low-salt sausages was unaffected by irradiation at 5 kGy ( p >0.05). Higher redness values were found at irradiated low-salt sausages compared to control ( p <0.05). The hardness, gumminess and chewiness of control sausage were higher than those of low-salt sausages ( p <0.05). However, there were no significant differences in the textural parameters between low-salt sausage treatments. The overall sensory acceptability score of irradiated/low-salt sausages were lower than L-control due to decreased scores for cooked meat flavor but increased radiolytic off-flavor ( p <0.05). The initial 2-thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) values of irradiated/low-salt sausages were higher than control and L-control ( p <0.05). However, the TBARS values of irradiated treatments were significantly lower than control at the end of storage. Irradiation could effectively inhibit the microorganism growth (total aerobic bacteria, coliforms, Enterobacteriaceae , and Pseudomonas spp.) in low-salt sausages ( p <0.05). Therefore, our findings show that irradiation could be to improve microbial safety of low-salt sausages, and suggest that further studies should be necessary to reducing radiolytic off-flavor of irradiated/low-salt sausages.