Digital Evaluation of Nitrite-Reduced “Kulen” Fermented Sausage Quality

Table 1

Changes in colour and chemical traits of kulen formulated with different levels of sodium nitrite during the first 16 days of production (mean values and standard deviation).

		Processing time (days)
		0			8			16
		N110	N55	NF	N110	N55	NF	N110	N55	NF
Shrinkage (%)					20.28 ± 2.18^1a	19.62 ± 2.09^1a	20.07 ± 1.72^1a	27.92 ± 2.32^1b	27.91 ± 2.65^1b	27.71 ± 2.45^1b
Colour parameters
Meat		54.43 ± 2.64^1a	53.86 ± 3.02^1a	54.28 ± 3.73^1a	47.57 ± 2.57^1b	48.29 ± 3.73^1ab	48.43 ± 4.03^1ab	45.14 ± 2.34^1bc	46.28 ± 5.56^1bc	46.86 ± 1.57^1bc
		54.71 ± 2.75^1a	54.86 ± 2.27^1a	52.86 ± 3.29^1a	55.14 ± 2.61^1a	54.71 ± 2.06^1a	54.86 ± 3.80^1a	51.86 ± 3.62^1a	51.57 ± 4.16^1a	50.57 ± 2.30^1a
		50.86 ± 6.20^1a	49.71 ± 7.20^1a	48.86 ± 2.97^1a	50.29 ± 4.50^1a	49.14 ± 5.11^1a	49.57 ± 2.07^1a	49.57 ± 3.36^1a	49.43 ± 5.80^1a	50.86 ± 4.22^1a
Fat		74.14 ± 2.08^1a	75.86 ± 3.62^1a	74.29 ± 2.16^1a	77.15 ± 1.68^1a	80.14 ± 2.27^1a	79.28 ± 2.36^1bc	75.14 ± 2.91^1a	78.57 ± 1.13^2a	77.14±1.06^12ab
		20.57±2.22^12a	18.43 ± 3.02^1a	19.14 ± 3.08^2a	18.86 ± 3.53^1a	16.14 ± 3.07^1a	14.86 ± 2.85^1b	18.86 ± 1.57^1a	17.14 ± 1.86^1a	16.86 ± 1.57^1b
		18.86±3.41^12a	19.71 ± 3.88^1a	18.29 ± 2.13^2a	20.86 ± 5.95^1a	19.71 ± 3.34^1a	17.43 ± 2.46^1b	20.29 ± 3.81^1a	18.14 ± 2.85^1a	21.71 ± 4.35^1b
Casing		36.00 ± 3.32^1a	37.29 ± 2.21^1a	36.29 ± 2.36^1a	19.86 ± 2.03^1b	20.00 ± 2.77^1b	19.86 ± 2.11^1b	16.14 ± 3.02^1b	16.57 ± 2.37^1b	17.71 ± 2.43^1b
		46.57 ± 3.73^1a	48.29 ± 2.43^1a	43.86 ± 2.54^1a	36.86 ± 1.57^1b	34.57 ± 3.60^1ab	35.57 ± 2.30^1b	29.14 ± 2.91^1b	29.86 ± 3.44^1bc	30.57 ± 3.55^1bc
		45.43 ± 5.25^1a	43.00 ± 3.32^1a	42.57 ± 5.56^1a	30.57 ± 3.21^1bc	27.29 ± 4.39^1b	28.43 ± 3.50^1b	24.71 ± 4.68^2b	23.14 ± 4.84^2b	21.86 ± 6.59^2b
Chemical parameters
Nitrites (mg/kg)		90.20 ± 8.48^1a	49.10 ± 5.63^2a	0.70 ± 0.17^3a	38.35 ± 3.26^1b	28.50 ± 2.43^2b	0.83 ± 0.24^3a	21.15 ± 0.17^1c	4.50 ± 0.41^2c	0.80 ± 0.17^3a
Nitrates (mg/kg)		6.43 ± 0.21^1a	6.53 ± 0.28^1a	6.32 ± 0.16^1a	6.39 ± 0.54^1a	6.48 ± 0.42^1a	6.18 ± 0.02^1a	7.43 ± 0.33^1b	7.16 ± 0.50^1ab	6.22 ± 0.02^1a
pH		5.47 ± 0.00^1a	5.43 ± 0.01^1a	5.48 ± 0.00^1a	5.03 ± 0.01^1b	5.00 ± 0.02^1b	5.04 ± 0.01^1b	4.90 ± 0.00^1c	4.95 ± 0.01^2bc	4.96 ± 0.01^2c
		0.945 ± 0.00^1a	0.947 ± 0.00^1a	0.956 ± 0.01^1a	0.929 ± 0.00^1b	0.933 ± 0.01^1b	0.929 ± 0.01^1b	0.923 ± 0.00^1c	0.920±0.01^12c	0.918 ± 0.01^2b
Moisture (%)		58.21 ± 0.58^1a	56.01 ± 0.12^2a	57.56 ± 0.56^1a	52.91 ± 0.28^1b	51.65 ± 0.35^2b	51.87±0.34^12b	46.45 ± 0.17^1c	44.83 ± 0.96^2c	45.29 ± 0.16^2c
Weight loss (%)					19.72 ± 0.35^1a	19.68 ± 0.69^1a	19.76 ± 0.60^1a	28.44 ± 0.42^1b	27.99 ± 0.66^1b	28.11 ± 0.26^1b
Free fatty acids (mg/g lipid)		1.04 ± 0.04^1a	1.02 ± 0.02^1a	0.71 ± 0.01^2a	1.11 ± 0.02^1a	0.99 ± 0.02^2a	1.24 ± 0.04^3b	2.79 ± 0.01^1b	2.61 ± 0.02^2b	2.87 ± 0.02^3c

N110, 110 mg/kg of NaNO₂; N55, 55 mg/kg of NaNO₂; NF, nitrite-free.
^1–3Mean values in the same row (corresponding to the same day of ripening) not followed by a common number differ significantly ().
^a–fMean values in the same row (corresponding to the same batch) not followed by a common letter differ significantly ().