Simple methods to decrease sodium and nitrite contents in hams

• Main Authors: Talia Franco-Avila, Irinea Yañez-Sánchez, Adriana Paola Avila-Guerrero, Cynthia Teresa Madera-Ibarra, Luis Gerardo Navarro-Gómez, Francisco Javier Gálvez-Gastélum
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Academia Española de Nutrición y Dietética 2015-07-01
• Series: Revista Española de Nutrición Humana y Dietética
• Subjects: Sodio Dietético; Nitritos; Alimento; Jamón; Evaluación Sensorial; Peróxidos; Índice de Peróxidos; Coliformes Totales
• Online Access: http://renhyd.org/index.php/renhyd/article/view/140

<p><strong>Introduction:</strong> Ham is a product highly consumed by society; however it contains some elements that make it a non-recommended food. Thus, it has been attempted to eliminate or reduce those components.</p><p><strong>Material and Methods: </strong>Content of sodium, nitrites, peroxides and total coliforms were compared after processes of Washing (W) and Simple Cooking (SC) in turkey and pork ham in a cross-sectional analytical experimental study. Furthermore, sensory acceptance of thesamples through an acceptance test of five points was evaluated. One-way ANOVA with post hoc Bonferroni were used to assess the mean difference between groups. The value of p≤0.05 was considered statistically significant.</p><p><strong>Results:</strong> Both processes reduced the amount of sodium in both types of ham in statistically significant way (p≤0.001). The major percentage of reduction was presented with SC: 73.4% for turkey ham and 63.5% for pork ham. Likewise, the higher percentage of nitrite reduction was 50.6% in pork ham with SC technique (p≤0.05). Peroxide index decreased with both techniques in both hams without statistical significance. Total coliforms count was kept constant in all samples. Higher sensory acceptance of W concerning SC in all sensory characteristics was observed.</p><p><strong>Conclusions:</strong> W and SC techniques reduce sodium, nitrite and peroxide index without affecting the sanitation of hams. Furthermore, W is accepted in all sensory categories. We recommend using W technique before consumption of the product.</p>