Study On The Effects Of Using Properties Of Forsythia Suspensa And Thymus In Chinese-style Sausage

In recent years, the sausage consumption in the world is increasing. So sausage is becoming the first choice in meat products developing field. As sausage is one of the most important meat products, its processing technology, quality, flavor, health properties and safety have been noticed by sausage researchers and customers. Chinese-style sausage is one of traditional Chinese meat products, being loved by customers. But there are some disadvantages in traditional Chinese-style sausage producing, such as the long processing period and short storage time. So there are many researchers doing studies in man-controlled fermented sausage to solve the problems. But there are other disadvantages in man-controlled fermented sausage producing, such as bad flavor and others. Although some researchers carrying out different types of research using mixed strains in sausage producing, the flavor still can not be as good as the traditional Chinese-style sausage.Nowadays, there are plenty of reports about traditional Chinese-style sausage, but the microbiological species, physicochemical changes, biochemical changes are not well researched. So some key problems in traditional Chinese-style sausage producing can not be solved, and the product quality can not be control effectively. These have limited the mass production of traditional Chinese-style sausage producing. Also, NaNO₂ has always been used in Chinese-style sausage producing as the preservative. But NaNO₂ can introduce lots of diseases to customers. So all countries have paid more attention at adding amounts of NaNO₂. UNFAO and WHO made rules as follows: the safety number of eating NaNO₃ or KNO₃ each day is lower than 0.5mg/kg weight, the safety number of eating NaNO₂ or KNO₂ each day is lower than 0.2mg/kg weight. China has strict rules about adding amounts of NaNO₂ or KNO₂ also: the safety quantity of NaNO₂ or KNO₂ in meat product is lower than 30mg/kg, the highest safety measure of few meat products is lower than 0.15g/kg. As the NaNO₂ and KNO₂ is harmful to customers, it is essential to reduce the amount in sausages as soon as possible.To solve the problems in traditional Chinese-style sausage processing and man-controlled fermented sausage production, satisfying the traditional Chinese-style sausage lovers, and retaining this special product, this research about using naturalpreservatives in traditional Chinese-style sausage has been initiated. Firstly, the physicochemical changes(moisture, protein, fat, total carbohydrates, NaCl content, pH value, water activity, titratable acidity and redness a*), biochemical changes (acidity value, peroxide value, carbonyl-compounds value, TBA, non-protein nitrogen, a-aminoacidic nitrogen and volatile basic nitrogen) and microbiological changes (aerobic plate count, anaerobic plate count, lactic acid bacteria, psychrotrophic count, yeasts and molds) during natural air-drying period of traditional Chinese-style sausage have been detected. Additionally, the physicochemical changes, biochemical changes and microbiological changes of using Forsythia Suspensa and Thymus in Chinese-style sausage have been studied.The results showed that using Forsythia Suspensa extraction in Chinese-style sausage can inhibit the growth of bacteria, and the suitable inhibitive concentration was 0.5%. It also had significant antioxidant properties. The sausage color, texture and flavor were better. When Thymus powder was used in Chinese-style sausage, it also had significant antibiotic and antioxidant properties. The suitable inhibitive concentration was 1.0%. But the sausage color was not good, as the color of Thymus powder is green. So if Thymus is used as the preservative, it is necessary to extract the useful component to avoid this problem.