Potential Mechanisms Governing the Eating Quality of Emulsified Sausages: Insights From Emulsification Time

Emulsification time is a critical processing parameter that determines the quality of emulsified sausages. Here, we systematically evaluated the effects of different emulsification times on the quality characteristics of chicken, pork, and beef sausages prepared with a composite emulsifier system. Key quality attributes, including freeze-thaw stability, texture profile analysis, water distribution, water-holding capacity (WHC), dynamic rheological properties, lipid and protein oxidation, and microstructure, were investigated. Under the specific formulation, chopping speed, and heating conditions, current results show that an emulsification time of 8 min yielded the best overall quality characteristics in emulsified sausages prepared with the SPI-FG composite system. Among the three meat types, chicken-based sausages consistently exhibited superior quality attributes compared with pork and beef under the same emulsification conditions. These findings elucidate that an appropriate emulsification time may promote myofibrillar protein depolymerization, cross-linking, and interfacial adsorption, thereby forming a stable three-dimensional gel network that comprehensively improves sausage quality. The present work offers a possible theoretical foundation and technical guidance for optimizing emulsification parameters, thereby facilitating targeted quality improvement in emulsified sausages prepared from various meat sources.