Sensory quality of selected raw ripened meat products

A demand on raw fermented meat products depends on their availability, price and the culture. In Poland, raw meat products have a several hundred years, although limited to the Podlasie region, tradition of manufacturing. Therefore, in spite of widening of Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German and recently even the Czech Republic products assortment on the Polish market, the consumption of them increases slowly. The aim of the study was to compare the sensory quality of raw ripened smoked products and sausages, sold on the Polish foodstuffs market as "traditional".

The study included the basic chemical content, water activity, pH, the amount of lactic acid bacteria and coagulase-negative cocci, as well as selected texture and sensory parameters. The analysis was conducted in compliance with Polish Standards, and the cutting strength was measured with the use of the TA-XT2 texture-meter. The sensory analysis was conducted by a 12-person panel using the 5-point method.

The differences in the amount of water, protein, fat and salt resulted from the wide variability of ingredients among both groups of the analysed cold meats. The smoked products were characterised by a higher pH (5.6-5.9), smaller amount of bacilli (2-5.5 log cfu/g) and lactic cocci (3.3 to 6.6 log cfu/g) in comparison with the sausages. The amount of both populations of bacteria in the sausages of a pH of 4.5-5.5 ranged from 6.8-8.9 log cfu/g and 5.9-7.7 log cfu/g, respectively. Among the analysed smoked products and sausages the greatest TPA hardness (respectively 128.6-140.3 N and 91.3-139.7 N), TPA chewiness (28.9-54.2 N and 16.1-36.0 N) and cutting strength (11.0-12.9 kG and 8.2-8.5 kG) was observed in those with a 0.81-0.86 water activity. The overall quality of the analysed cold meats was at a good level (3.9-4.1 pt).

Distinguishing features which determined the quality of products are hardness, juiciness as well as odour. The specific odour of the yeast cultures present on the surface of the products, the high fat content which undergoes oxidation during ripening, a high salt content, the domination of pepper among the range of spices as well as the detection of lactic and acetic acid are not accepted by Polish consumers.