Impact of ultra-high pressure processing on the texture and biochemical profiles of Chinses traditional smoked sausage

Ultra-high pressure (UHP) is an emerging food processing technology showing exciting advantages in meat processing. This work systematically investigated impacts of the UHP on the texture and biochemical profiles of Chinese traditional smoked sausage (CTSS). For this purpose, the CTSS sample filled in the vacuum package was conditioned by UHP for 15 min at different pressure (0, 200, 300, 400, 500 MPa). Remarkable improvements on the water-hold capacity, hardness, sheared force and appearance of the CTSS can be observed under 300 MPa UHP, accompanied with fast reducing of nitrate and microbial colony levels. However, moderate fat oxidation also occurred with increasing pressure. Besides, the flavor of the CTSS sample significantly responded to UHP conditions. Positive changes of flavor associated with the formation and accumulation of volatile sulfur-containing compounds and taste associated with reducing sour and astringent was both clearly recorded with the assistance of UHP. To further understand impacts of UHP on the myofibrils, changes of fragmentation index and functional groups (carboxyl, free Sulfhydryl and Surface hydrophobicity) of the extracted protein was accessed. It was revealed that UHP might be a ideal tool to modify the microstructure of CTSS in the molecular level, which was further evidenced by analyze its protein with differential interference microscopy and SDS-PAGE electrophoresis.