Chemometric model for describing Greek traditional sausages

Chemical, physical, microbiological and sensory analyses were performed on 31 samples of Greek traditional sausages. The following attributes were recorded: fat 15.49-56.86%, moisture 21.92-65.40%, protein 14.73-26.74%, sodium chloride 2.36-4.13%, nitrites 0.0-3.26 ppm, mean nitrates 38.19 ppm, TBA value 0.42-5.33 mg malonaldehyde/kg, pH 4.74-6.74, water activity (a(w)) 0.88-0.97, firmness 0-64 Zwick units, lightness (L(*)) 25.03-35.37, redness (a(*)) 2.55-11.42, yellowness 4.42-12.96, aerobic plate count 5.48-9.32 cfu/g, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) 5.26-9.08 cfu/g, micrococci/staphylococci 4.11-6.91 cfu/g and Gram (-) bacteria 1.78-6.15 cfu/g. Mean sensory scores ranged from 3.14 to 3.54 on a 5-point hedonic scale. Two statistical analysis programmes (Praxitele and SPSS) were used for characterising and assessing the properties of sausages. The first two principal components (PC1-2) derived by SPSS (50.5% variance) describe more satisfactorily the variance than the corresponding PC1-2, PC1-3 obtained by Praxitele (40.4% variance). High consumer preference was strongly related to satisfactory appearance and strong taste, high LAB count, medium fat content, medium firmness and lightness (L(*)(surface)). Extreme attribute values (high or low) for firmness, moisture and fat content, low salt content and low taste were related to low consumer preference.