Seline Glorieux^1,2, Olivier Goemaere¹, Liselot Steen¹ and Ilse Fraeye¹*

¹KU Leuven Technology Campus Ghent, Leuven Food Science and Nutrition Research Centre (LFoRCe), Research Group
 for Technology and Quality of Animal Products, Gebroeders De Smetstraat 1, BE-9000 Gent, Belgium
²KU Leuven Kulak, Leuven Food Science and Nutrition Research Centre (LFoRCe), Foods & Lipids, Etienne Sabbelaan 53,
 BE-8500 Kortrijk, Belgium

Article history:
Received: November 29, 2016
Accepted: May 9, 2017

Key words:
phosphate type, phosphate reduction, viscoelastic properties, quality characteristics, cooked sausage

Summary:
Phosphate reduction is of important industrial relevance in the manufacturing of emulsified meat products because it may give rise to a healthier product. The effect of seven different phosphate types was tested on the physicochemical and quality characteristics to select the most promising phosphate type for further cooked sausage manufacturing. Next, phosphate mass fraction was gradually reduced. Tetrasodium di- or pyrophosphate (TSPP) and sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP) increased pH, reduced structural properties, resulted in the highest emulsion stability, lowest cooking loss and had little effect on hardness. Based on the viscoelastic properties, a minimum mass fraction of 0.06 % TSPP was sufficient to obtain an acceptable quality product. Rheology proved to be a very useful tool to evaluate the quality of meat products, as it gives insight in the structure of the meat product and especially the functional properties of meat proteins. Based on the obtained results, it can be concluded that the current amount of phosphate added to emulsified meat products can be significantly reduced with minimal loss of product quality.

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                                             +329 265 8638
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Co-first authorship: S. Glorieux and O. Goemaere