Pulsed light and jabuticaba peel extract for nitrite reduction and quality enhancement in sliced mortadella

This study evaluated using pulsed light (PL) and jabuticaba peel extract (JPE) to control bacterial growth in sliced mortadella with reduced sodium nitrite content and assessed their impact on food quality. Three formulations were tested: 150 ppm nitrite (100 % of the allowed dosage, N_100%), 75 ppm nitrite (N_50%), and 75 ppm nitrite with 1 % JPE (N_50% + JPE). The mortadella was cooked, sliced, treated with PL (5.28 J/cm² fluence, 1046.9 W/cm² irradiance), vacuum-packed, and stored at 4 °C for 30 days. N_50% samples exhibited higher TBARS values (0.54 vs. 0.18 mg MDA/kg) and higher population counts of total mesophilic aerobic bacteria (TMAB, 8.38 vs. 7.1 Log CFU/g) and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) (8.21 vs. 6.17 Log CFU/g, respectively) than N_100% after 30 days of storage. PL application reduced the TMAB and LAB by 1.4-1.55 Log CFU/g and 1.0-2.24 Log CFU/g for the N_100% and N_50% formulations (P < 0.05), respectively, but negatively affected pH and color, increasing lipid oxidation. JPE mitigated these defects, and combined JPE and PL presented an enhanced antimicrobial effect, with N_50% + JPE + PL samples showing similar microbial counts to N_100% over the storage. The combination of JPE and PL also significantly reduced nitrosamine levels, highlighting it as an effective strategy to improve the quality and safety of meat products.