Application of Glycosylated Nitrosohemoglobin in Meat Batters: Color Formation and Antimicrobial Activity

Sodium nitrite is an important food additive in meat industry. However, because of its carcinogenicity, the studies about nitrite substitutes have been focused on for many years. In this study, glycosylated nitrosohemoglobin (G-NO-Hb) synthesized by porcine blood, nitrite and sugar through maillard reaction was applied in chilled meat batters to replace for nitrite. Color difference, total aerobic plate count (APC) and total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) were determined in order to evaluate the quality of meat batters. The identified results by UV-Vis spectra analysis showed that the produced pigment products by porcine blood, nitrite and sugar through maillard reaction was NO-Hb because they had special absorption peaks at 420, 542 and 578 nm. The a*-values of batters treated with G-NO-Hb showed a significant increase (P 0.05), which indicated that the addition of G-NO-Hb had a positive effect on the red color formation of pork batters. Also, both TVB-N values and APC of samples treated with G-NO-Hb were significantly lower than the control samples (P < 0.05). It revealed that G-NO-Hb was a potential substance to substitute for nitrite during meat curing.