Abstract
Quality changes of sausages in refrierated storage for 60 days were investigated. Nine types of sausages produced in Korea were stored at 4$^{\circ}C$(3~5$^{\circ}C$), and then chemical, microbiological, and sensory characteristics were evaluated on every 10 days. The proximate analysis showed considerable variation in fat (23.97%, 17.10~30.20%) with less variation in moisture (51.96%, 48.10~56.30%) and protein (12.96%, 11.40~13.95%), pH value decreased over time averaging from 6.31 to 6.22 with no significant difference. Water activity was consistent over refrigerated storage averaging 0.95. Volatile basic nitrogen (VBN) values were still within 20 mg% though VBN for all types significantly increased over time (p<0.05). Thiobarbituric acid (TBA) values were well below 1.0 though TBA showed significant differences among storage periods (p<0.05). Standard plate counts (SPCs) significantly increased during storage (p<0.05) while coliform group was not counted in all cases. SPCs reached 104 CFU/g in two types after 50 days' storage and were below 105 CFU/g in all types after 60 days' storage. Instrumental texture analysis showed that springiness, adhesiveness, and hardness signficantly decreased over time (p<0.05) while no change was observed in external color. significantly decreased over time the 60-day storage period (p<0.05) while cohesiveness, chewiness and gumminess did not change. Lightness, redness and yellowness of the internal Hunter color significantly decreased over time (p<0.05) while no change was observed in external color. Sensory profile showed that flavor, taste, texture and overall acceptable after 60 days' storage at 4$^{\circ}C$. However, the shelf-life of the samples should be decided in the consideration of the growth rate other spoilage flora coupled with the bacterial growth after 50 days' storage.
