Flavor Compounds and Physicochemical Properties of Low-fat Functional Sausages Manufactured with Chitosans during Refrigerated Storage

The objective of this study was to evaluate the physico-chemical properties and flavor compounds of sausages with various levels and molecular weight (MWs) of chitosans, during storage at . Various MWs (Low: 1.5 kDa; Medium: kDa; High: 200 kDa) and two levels (0.3 and ) of chiosans were dissolved and measured the viscosity at , pH values were not affected (p>0.05) by either MWs or levels of chitosans. The addition or high MWs or chitosan into the pork salt soluble protein (SSP) increased the viscosity, whereas no differences were observed in low and medium MWs of chitosan. Textural profile analysis (TPA) was affected by the addition of medium or high MWs of chitosan. As a result, the addition of medium of chitosan increased the hardness, gumminess, chewiness, cohesiveness and springiness values, whereas increased level of chitosan didn't affect TPA values, except few cases. Approximately twenty-nine flavor compounds were identified in the low-fat and regular-fat sausages, however the addition of chitosans didn't impair the flavor composition of the sausages, These results indicated that the addition of chitosans didn't affect the flavor profiles, but affected the textural properties in the sausages, especially MWs higher than 30 kDa.