Effects of vegetable powders as nitrite alternative in Italian dry fermented sausage.

The aim of this work was to study the effects of reformulation of an Italian dry fermented sausage by replacing nitrite with celery or spinach powder alone or in combination with beet powder on some quality characteristics of the product. Five different sausage formulations were produced: i) Control negative (CN): no nitrate added; ii) Control positive (CP) 150 mg/kg potassium nitrate; Group with celery powder (GSe): 3 g/kg celery powder; iii) Group with celery powder and beet powder (GSeB): 3 g/kg of celery and beet powder, respectively; iv) Group with spinach powder and beet powder (GSpB): 3 g/kg of spinach and beet powder, respectively. There was no significant difference between the residual nitrite contents of the samples at the end of the storage period.