Low salt pig-meat products and novel formulations

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
   1. Objectives:
   2. Learning goals
   3. Teacher page
2. Section 1: Salt and Human Health
   1. Sodium and human physiology
   2. Trends in salt consumption
   3. Dietary salt as a health hazard
   4. Epidemiological studies
   5. High blood pressure
   6. Stroke
   7. Death from cardiovascular disease
   8. Osteoporosis
   9. Stomach cancer
   10. References
3. Section 2: Salt Content of Pig-meat Products
   1. Salt concentration in different pig-meat products
   2. Low-salt products in Europe
   3. Comparisons between various processed products
   4. References
4. Section 3: Science of salt in pig products
   1. From muscle to meat
   2. Effect of salt content on chemical and physical properties and implications for organoleptic properties
   3. Problems related to meat pH
   4. Effect of salt content on microbiological properties in processed meat products
   5. Consequences of reducing salt content
   6. References
5. Section 4 Low-salt Pig Meat Formulations
   1. General points to consider when manufacturing processed pork
   2. Balancing low salt with substitutes, enhancers and alternatives
   3. Effect of low sodium on eating quality, shelf-life and functional properties
   4. Optimum concentrations
   5. Cooked sausages
   6. Frankfurters
   7. Dry fermented sausage
   8. Ground patties
   9. Dry-cured ham
   10. Restructured meats (wet cured ham)
   11. Bacon
   12. Novel approaches in product formulation
   13. Other approaches
   14. Conclusions
   15. References
6. Discussion
7. Glossary
8. Completion
   1. Comments
   2. Self assessment
   3. Evaluation
9. Acknowledgment

Objectives:

This learning material provides information on low salt pork products and the benefits and hazards of low salt formulations. Some examples of approaches taken by the industry and formulations explored under experimental conditions, to reduce sodium content, will also be covered in this module.

This module is intended for students in higher education and section three (Salt content of pig-meat products) and four (low salt pig-meat formulations) are also intended for employees in industry.

For employees in industry (5 notional study hours, 0.25 ECTS)

• Read the section on 'salt content of pig-meat products' (section 2)
• Identify pig-meat products in your country that are not listed in the Learning Resource
• Read section 4 'low-salt pig-meat formulations'. You may not be able to do all the activities as some are based on the materials from sections 2 and 3. But if you would like to find out more please read sections 2 and 3.
• Summarise the key messages
• Do the self assessment
• Read the discussion

For students in higher education (30 notional study hours, 1.5 ECTS)

• Read the sections 1 to 4
• Do the activities as you read the material
• Identify pig meat products in your country that are not identified in the learning resources and put on the comments page
• Do the self assessment
• Read the discussion

Prerequisites

The reader is expected to have a basic knowledge (college level) of chemistry, microbiology and physiology. If you are not familiar with some of the technical terms please refer to the glossary.