THE EFFECT OF SALT REDUCTION ON CHEMICAL AND MICROBIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND IMPLICATIONS ON SENSORY QUALITY OF TRADITIONAL SMOKED MEAT “VISOČKA PEČENICA”

Cooking salt (NaCl) is the most important ingredient in meat products thus it affects technological and sensory properties of meat products. Lately there are aims of reducing NaCl in meat products to a level where this reduction will not significantly affect the overall quality. The aim of this research was to determine the chemical, microbiological and sensory effect depending on the amount of salt addition during the technological process of making traditional Bosnian smoked beef “Visočka pečenica”. Overall 40 samples of “Visočka pečenica” were used, divided into four groups. The first group consisted of samples with the standard amount of NaCl added (4.5%). In the second sample group, the amount of salt added was decreased to 10%, in the third to 30%, and in the fourth to 50%. Using ISO 1442, ISO 1841-1, ISO 937, ISO 1443 and ISO 917, water content/dry matter, chlorides, proteins, fat and pH value were determined. The research also involved analyzing the microbiological parameters (Salmonella spp., Enterobacteriaceae, coagulase-positive staphylococci, sulfite-reducing bacteria growing under anaerobic conditions and Listeria monocytogenes) and sensory quality of ham (external appearance, color, consistency, appearance of cross-section, smell, taste and overall mark). Following methods were used ISO 6579:2005, ISO 215282:2013, ISO 6888-1:2005, ISO 15213:2008 and ISO 11290/A1:2005 for microbiological examination, while sensory properties while were determined with sensoryorganoleptic evaluation of 18 trained assessors. Statistical testing was performed using descriptive statistical analysis at the significance level p ≤ 0.05. Using the Anova test, we found statistically significant differences for the following parameters: chlorine, water, dry matter and proteins. Microbiological analysis of the samples has shown no growth of pathogenic bacteria. Samples with standard and reduced amount of salt on 10% had the best sensory ratings. On the other hand, samples with a reduced amount of added salt to 30 and 50% had poor sensory ratings. Initial hypothesis that the reduction in the amount of NaCl added during the technological process will affect the chemical characteristics and sensory quality was confirmed.