The Effect of Salt Reduction and Salt Replacer Combinations on the Chemical, Microbial, and Sensory Quality of Dry Sausage

The South African Department of Health introduced legislation for mandatory sodium reduction in many food products. The reduction or partial replacement of sodium can negatively affect these products’ shelf-life and chemical and sensory properties. Although it does not fall under these regulations, a high-salt product like South African dry sausage may experience serious manufacturing and safety challenges if its salt and sodium content is reduced. Dry sausage is a ready-to-eat (RTE), shelf-stable, dried meat product produced from a blend of minced meat, fat, spices, and vinegar. It is a non-fermented sausage that does not contain nitrate and/or nitrite. In this study, five different dry sausage treatments were formulated. The positive control contained 3.83% sodium chloride (NaCl), while the negative control contained 1.92% NaCl; the remaining three treatments contained 1.92% NaCl, with either potassium chloride (KCl), organic potassium salts and potassium (K) lactate, or K-lactate used as salt replacers. The water activity, pH, oxidative, chemical, and microbial stability and sensory quality of the treatments were compared. All the treated dry sausages were safe to consume, with the microbial counts remaining below the recommended limits. The treatment containing the organic potassium salts and K-lactate was the most effective replacer for inhibiting Enterobacteriaceae, coliforms, lactic acid bacteria (LAB), yeasts, and molds. Consumers could detect a difference between the sensory properties of the positive and negative controls. However, they could not detect significant differences between the replacers, which indicated that partial NaCl replacement—involving KCl, organic K-salts, and K-lactate—provided suitable NaCl replacers in this South African delicacy.