Effect of curdlan addition on the quality of Frankfurt sausage

In the preparation of the Frankfurt sausage, curdlan was added at 0, 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3%, 0.4% and 0.5% ( mass ratio of curdlan to total meat weight) .The effects were studied by measuring cooking loss, emulsion stability, colors, texture profiles and rheological properties.The mobility regularity of water molecules in Frankfurt sausage were measured by low field nuclear magnetic resonance ( LF-NMR) , and the microstructures were observed by confocal laser scanning microscopy ( CLSM) . The results showed that cooking loss of Frankfurt sausage decreased significantly with the increased addition of curdlan ( p < 0.05) .However, the L*-value, hardness and adhesiveness of Frankfurt sausage obviously increased with the increased addition of curdlan ( p < 0.05) . Moreover, LF-NMR results confirmed that the incorporated curdlan restricted the mobility of the aqueous phase during the heating progress of Frankfurt sausage meat batter, and increased water binding capacity.Compared with control group, the addition of curdlan significantly increased the storage modulus values ( G') , and loss modulus values ( G″) and elasticity of Frankfurt sausage meat batter upon heating ( p < 0.05) .CLSM results showed that the addition of curdlan facilitated the formation of a closer microstructure in Frankfurt sausage.Therefore, curdlan could be used as quality improver to incorporate into Frankfurt sausage and its optimal dosage was 0.3%.