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

Other approaches

Computed tomography (CT)

Computed tomography (CT) is a non-destructive analytical technique which uses high magnetic fields to obtain detailed information about tissue. It can determine the distribution of water, as well as sodium and water activity during the processing of hams. It can also estimate intramuscular fat levels. The technique is still in its experimental stages for application to the meat industry, but it could potentially be used in the future as a problem-solving service to the industry. It has some drawbacks, however: equipment and maintenance costs are very high and safety issues are a serious concern. In addition, it has been pointed out that interpretation of the findings could be affected by the chemical composition of the sample, as well as the choice of tube voltage (Haseth et al., 2008; Fulladosa and Gou, 2009). Nonetheless, if the technique is adopted by numerous meat processors, it is expected to become cheaper and standardized procedures will be developed.

Figure 2 shows the distribution of salt and water content in a dry-cured ham slice, obtained after the processing of data acquired using computed tomography. the images correspond to slices taken during the elaboration process:

(a) at the end of salting

(b) after 22 days resting

(c) after 45 days resting.

Figure 4.4 Salt and water in a slice of dry-cured ham (Source: Arnau, et al, 2009)