Sustitución de las sales de cura por extractos vegetales para la elaboración de salami

Abstract

For a long time, food preservation has been a subject that has been studied for decades, with the preservation of meat being mainly necessary in the preparation of sausages, where salt was initially used in the curing process. Sausages, being processed foods, contain additives and preservatives, which, when ingested in the human organism, can react in the acidic environment of the stomach and form nitrosamines. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to present a natural alternative to curing salts, incorporating the vegetable extract of chard (Beta vulgaris var cicla) in the production of a cured salami-type sausage. For this purpose, 5 treatments with different percentages of nitrate and sodium nitrite mixture (0% 25% 50% 75% 100%) were proposed for the control of physicochemical parameters inside an artisanal maturation chamber. By means of hedonic evaluation and the Kruskal Wallis H statistical test, the best lot was determined, with the product presenting the best results. The experiments showed that there were no significant differences between the different formulated treatments, the best being the batch formulated with 50% vegetable nitrate and nitrite respectively (a2/b50), which in turn demonstrated bromatological and microbiological characteristics in accordance with INEN-1338 2012 standards. Finally, the partial substitution of sodium nitrite for natural nitrate guarantees a product that is safe and pleasant for the consumer, so that the use of vegetables as a source of nitrate can be used as a source of nitrite.