Freeze/thaw stability of cooked pork sausages as affected by salt, phosphate, pH, and carrageenan

The effects of kappa, iota, or lambda carrageenan (CGN), sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP), chloride salts, and meat pH on the freeze/thaw stability of cooked pork sausages were investigated. STPP decreased thaw drip (TD) and increased hardness for all treatments regardless of type of salt or CGN. KCl did not affect the texture of control samples in the presence of STPP, but decreased the functionality of kappa- and iota-CGN. Increased meat pH increased the hardness and decreased thaw drip for all CGN treatments, except for lambda-CGN, which remained unchanged. kappa- and iota-CGN increased moisture retention of sausages prepared from low-pH meat.