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

Novel approaches in product formulation

New technologies are always being developed that aim to solve the main difficulties faced by the meat industry in attempting to reduce salt content in meat processed products. To end this section, here are some examples of novel approaches and the results found.

High-pressure technology

High pressure processing (HPP) has been tried under experimental conditions in manufacturing restructured dry-cured hams, frankfurters, breakfast sausages and restructured pork. The results vary between products and there have been differences in the pressure used, which makes comparisons difficult. The following are three examples.

• Dry-cured hams

Using a 600-MPa (megapascal) HPP has been found to increase the microbiological stability (improving shelf-life) and the perception of saltiness of sliced hams with reduced salt content. HPP has also had a positive effect on muscle binding. However, HPP increased hardness and decreased elasticity. It also had a negative effect on the appearance of slices, increasing brightness and iridescence (which people might falsely associate with bacteria growth and spoiled meat) and reducing colour homogeneity (Arnau, J et al., 2009).

• Breakfast sausages and frankfurters

Using a 150-MPa HPP, cooking loss was reduced significantly and this allowed salt content to be reduced from 2.5% to 1.5%. Hardness, springiness, gumminess and chewiness were reported to be unaffected by the pressure. In addition, the use of pressure did not affect overall acceptability (Troy et al., 2001).

• Restructured pork

200-MPa HPP has been used successfully in producing restructured pork meat in combination with additives (glucono-δ-lactone and κ-carrageenan) (Hong et al., 2008). Similarly, HHP has been used experimentally at lower MPa (from 0.1 to 200 MPa) and with non-meat proteins as binders (i.e. soy, sodium caseinate, whey protein and egg white powder). HPP has improved water-binding capacity and binding strength (Hong et al., 2006).

Figure 4.3 High pressure equipment (Source: Arnau et al., 2009)