Study on quality change of snakehead sausage during the frozen storage

Abstract

Objective: The effect of frozen temperature on the storage characteristics of ready-to-eat snakehead sausages were investigated. Methods: In this study, The freezing temperature dehydration technique was used to control the moisture content of snakehead sausage at about 50%, and then the temperature was lowered to-5.6 ℃. Subsequently, the sausage was stored at -4 ℃, and those stored at 4 ℃ were set as the control. The changes in the quality and microstructure of the snakehead sausages were analyzed, by measuring the physicochemical indexes such as total bacterial colony, color, water holding capacity, textural properties, biogenic amines and scanning electron microscopy during storage. Results: The logarithmic values of TVC were （5.37±0.06）; TVB-N were （17±0.03） mg/100 g; the total amine mass fraction were （324.93±1.89） mg/kg at 42 d. The results of colony count and TVB-N analysis showed that, compared to those stored at 4 ℃, frozen storage could extend the shelf life of snakehead sausage by 1-fold. The low-field NMR results showed that the moisture distribution of snakehead sausage during frozen storage was better than that of the control. Scanning electron microscopy showed that the gel network of the frozen-storage group had a higher degree of binding to fat particles. The frozen storage of snakehead sausage was superior to the refrigerated storage. Conclusion: The preservation effect of snakehead sausage stored at freezing temperature is better than that of refrigerated storage.

Keywords

• snakehead sausage
• biogenic amines
• freezing temperature dehydration
• ice-temperature storage
• quality characteristics