The effects of P. pentosaceus and combined starter cultures on the analysis (TPA) and color of dry fermented sausage from sheep meat

The effects of P. pentosaceus and combined starter cultures on the texture profile analysis(TPA) and color of dry fermented sausage from sheep meat were investigated during the ripening periods. 2 groups dry fermented sausages produced the same process conditions were named P. pentosaceus group and combined starter cultures group. Aw value, pH value, TPA, color and sensory quality were performed during 8 days of ripening. The results showed that: Aw and pH values of two sausages decreased gradually and the pH values of combined starter cultures group droped to 5.10 (p0.05) at the end of the 3 days. Inoculating combined starter cultures resulted in high lightness(L*) and yellowness(b*)(p0.05) and low redness(a*) at the end of ripening. The fermented sausage inoculated P. pentosaceus resulted in higher redness(a*) values. The results were in ag- reement with the color scores of sensory analysis. The texture profiles of inoculating combined starter cultures were characterized(p0.05) by the values of hardness(1116 g), chewiness(1625.09 g·mm), adhesiveness (706.48 g) and cohesiveness (0.666). These results were in agreement with the texture scores. The combined starter cultures improved the textural property of dry fermented sausage from sheep meat.