Effect of salt, phosphate and carrageenan on proporties of smoked ham

Abstract

Smoked ham is commonly eaten in Sweden. However, smoked ham consists of a lot of salt (NaCl) which is an important component in the brine. Since a high salt consumption increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases, it is of great interest to decrease salt and other sodium-binding compounds in various food products, especially in smoked ham. Nevertheless, this is a challenge because the salt and other sodium-binding compounds in the brine, like phosphate, contributes with important functional properties such as water holding capacity, taste and antimicrobial effects. The purpose of this project was to investigate how reduced salt- (0.5%, 1.25% and 2.15%) and phosphate (0%, 0.13% and 0.26%) concentration in the brine would affect quality properties such as flavour, colour, texture and water holding capacity of the smoked ham. Another purpose was to analyze how the quality properties changed when the hydrocolloid carrageenan (0.3%, 0.6% and 1.0% concentration) was used instead of phosphate. The result revealed that 0.13% phosphate resulted in a high water holding capacity. It was also found that 0.26% phosphate concentration and 1.25% salt concentration gave the highest peak force in the texture measurement, giving that it was the ham that held together the most. In the sensory assessment, it was found that the assessors found the smoked ham containing carrageenan to have more off-taste than the other hams. The sensory assessment also showed that the 1.25% and 2.15% salt concentration was almost equally liked by the assessors. Therefore, the recommendations for reducing the sodium-binding compounds would be to use 1.25% salt concentration and to reduce the phosphate concentration to 0.13% although further studies might be needed.

Popular Abstract

Smoked ham is commonly eaten in Sweden in thin slices on a piece of bread. In order to slice the ham thin, it needs to have an optimal texture. To reach the optimal texture, salt and phosphates are mixed in a brine solution and injected in the ham before it is smoked. These compounds will increase the water holding capacity in the ham, which is improving the volume and texture. It is also important to add salt to improve the flavour and the shelf life of the smoked ham. However, a high consumption of salt and other sodium-binding compounds like phosphates, is increasing the risk of cardiovascular diseases. A consumer study showed that the daily salt consumption is 10-12g in Sweden (Konsumentföreningen Stockholm, 2013). Since 75% of the daily intake of salt comes from food produced by food companies, it is of great interest to decrease the salt and other sodium-binding compounds in food products, especially in smoked ham.
Due to the important function of salt and phosphates in the ham, it is a challenge to decrease these compounds. Therefore, this project is a study of how the quality changes in smoked ham as a result of reduced salt-and phosphate concentrations. The report also studies which brine composition is resulting in the best properties of the ham, in order to reduce sodium-binding compounds such as salt and phosphates. An alternative way of reducing the sodium-binding compounds is to replace phosphates with another compound that improves the water holding capacity of the ham. In this report, carrageenan which is extracted from red seaweed, was used instead of phosphates in the brine.
Firstly, twelve different hams were produced with a brine with varying phosphate, salt and carrageenan concentrations. To find which of the hams resulted in the best texture, the weight of the ham was measured after production, the loss during slicing was measured and the force that was needed to break the slice of ham was measured. From this, it was found that the water holding capacity is not always linked to the texture. Meaning that even if the ham increases in volume it might not hold together very well.
The hams were also examined in colour, shelf life and consumer perception. It was found that the red colour decreased in the smoked ham when the salt concentration decreased. However, in the sensory evaluation where twelve assessors evaluated the ham and answered some questions, it was found that the assessors liked the ham with different salt concentrations equally. This means that the salt concentration could be lowered without affecting the consumer’s linking of the ham. It was also found that the off-taste of the ham affected the consumer’s liking of the ham a lot. Since the hams with carrageenan had an off-taste, the consumers didn’t like the those hams. Therefore, replacing phosphates with carrageenan was not a good alternative to reduce the sodium-binding compounds in the ham.
It was found in the project that sodium-binding compounds in the brine can be reduced by decreasing salt -and/or phosphate concentration without a significant loss in volume or consumer’s liking of the ham. This is an important finding since reducing salt and other sodium-binding compounds in foods products like smoked ham, would lead to a lower consumption of salt and other sodium-binding compounds. Therefore, reducing the salt-and phosphate concentrations in smoked ham as recommended in this report, could be one option to decrease the cardiovascular diseases.

• author: Andersson, Elin
• supervisor: Eva Tornberg
• organization: Food Technology and Nutrition (M.Sc.)
• alternative title: Inverkan av salt, fosfat och karragenan på rökt skinka
• course: KLT920 20171
• year: 2017
• type: H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
• subject: Technology and Engineering
• keywords: Water holding capacity, carrageenan, texture, colour, sensory assessment KLT920
• language: English
• id: 8917035
• date added to LUP: 2017-06-19 15:26:51
• date last changed: 2017-06-19 15:26:51