The effect of glucosamine and glucosamine caramel on quality and consumer acceptability of regular and reduced salt breakfast sausages.

Given the more recent interest in its flavour enhancing potential, the effects of the addition of glucosamine or glucosamine caramel on both technological and consumer acceptability of regular and reduced salt breakfast sausages were studied. A 2 × 3 complete factorial design was used with salt level (regular salt, RS (1.1%) and low salt, LS (0.825%)) and formulation treatment (control, GlcN - glucosamine (1%), CAR - glucosamine caramel (1% GlcN equivalent)) as main effects. Raw or cooked sausages were analyzed for CIE L*, a* and b*, physical and textural properties and consumer acceptance. Different salt levels did not affect the pH of meat batter, while the reduced salt treatment resulted in higher cook loss. On the contrary, addition of GlcN and CAR reduced the pH of sausage with no effect on cook loss. Neither salt levels nor treatment formulation affected the textural attributes of sausages. The inclusion of CAR significantly reduced L* value and increased redness (a*) and yellowness (b*) of cooked sausages. Salt reduction resulted in decreased a* and b* values in raw batter; the effect which disappeared in cooked sausages. Glucosamine caramel increased the overall and flavour acceptability score of low salt breakfast sausages. The present study showed that glucosamine caramel could potentially improve the flavour of low salt breakfast sausage with limited effect on textural attributes.