Development of consumer accepted low salt and low fat traditional Irish processed meats

Abstract

Irish consumers (n = 1045) were surveyed with respect to their attitudes towards healthier food consumption, particularly in relation to salt and fat reduction. It appears educational campaigns have generally been adopted by respondents, as only a minority were not concerned about their diet; irrespective of age, gender or educational status. Overall, an increase in purchasing salt-reduced food was observed, although fat-reduced food products were already better adopted. This thesis then focused on development of consumer-accepted low salt and low fat Irish traditional processed meats (white pudding, black pudding, corned beef). Salt and fat reductions were carried out by simply reducing salt and fat content without using additives. For that purpose, 25 white and black pudding formulations with varying fat (2.5% - 20% w/w) and sodium (0.2% - 1.0% w/w) contents, and 5 corned beef samples with varied sodium levels (0.2% - 1.0% w/w) were produced in a pilot plant processing facility. White pudding samples containing 15% fat and 0.6% sodium, and black pudding samples containing 0.6% sodium and 10% fat were highly accepted, thereby satisfying the sodium target (0.6%) set by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI, 2011). Corned beef samples low in sodium (0.2%, 0.4%) were positively correlated (not significant) to liking of flavour and overall acceptability. For greater reductions in salt and fat different replacer combinations were then added. White pudding formulations containing 10% fat and 0.6% sodium formulated with sodium citrate, as well as the combination of potassium chloride and glycine; black pudding samples with 5% fat and 0.6% sodium containing pectin and a combination of potassium citrate, potassium phosphate and potassium chloride, as well as samples containing 10% fat and 0.4% sodium with waxy maize starch; and accordingly, corned beef containing 0.4% sodium and formulated with potassium lactate and glycine were accepted by assessors.