International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Technology (IJAERT)

Volume 2 Issue 3, June 2014, ISSN No.: 2348 8190

97
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The effect of substituting sodium nitrite, with sodium acetate on microbial,
physiochemical and sensory characteristics of meat products
Habib Sedghi
*
, Teimour Mohammadi
**
, Mohammad Ali Shariati
***
, Behnam Montazeri ****,Shirin Atarod
*
*.Department of Food Science and Technology , Quchan Branch ,Islamic Azad University ,Quchan ,iran.
** College of Food Science , Applied Science University of Alifard Company
*** Department of Food Science and Technology Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University ,Tehran ,Iran.
*** Department of Food Science and Technology , Sharhrekord Branch ,Islamic Azad University ,Shahrekord ,Iran.
ABSTRACT
In recent years, sodium nitrite has been considered as an
unrivaled additive, due to its capability to deal with
clostridium botulinum and its positive effect on the color
of meat products. However, it leads to the production of
nitrosamine carcinogens. Lately, the application of
organic acids and their salts have been more considered
due to their natural and appropriate antimicrobial
properties. Antimicrobial effect of lactate in meat and
meat products was studied and its effect against many
spoilage micro-organisms and disease has been
demonstrated. Lactate and sensory properties of products
such as color, improve texture and taste, and also exhibit
antioxidant effect. The effect of sodium lactate on
production of Clostridium botulinum Botulism is
confirmed and authorized. Sodium lactate reduces the
population of bacteria and spore bearing anaerobic in
meat during storage, providing further effects than
nitrite. Lactate effect on the formation of nitrous
myoglobin from matt myoglobin in meat-curing system
has been studied. Sodium lactate, allows the re-shaping
of oximyoglobin from reduced dioximyoglobin that
leads to the formation of durable reddish color in meat.
Recent research has shown that hydroxy hemoglobin
correlates with nitrate reductase activity that forms nitric
oxide in biological systems. Microbial growth has been
more significantly decreased when lactate is added to
meat products, compared to nitrite, and lactate shows a
better performance as an antimicrobial. Sodium lactate
has been proved to cause no change in the sensory
characteristics of the product and slight improvement in
the flavor. The only flaw is the inability to form a
pinkish red as is accepted as the common color of
prepared meat products using nitrite. In this paper, the
effects of adding sodium lactate to meat products and
examination of its effect on the sodium nitrite was
addressed. The following paper is looking for a method
that would achieve the best results by reducing nitrate
and increasing sodium lactate at the same time.
Keywords - Meat sausage, sodium lactate, sodium
nitrate
I. INTRODUCTION
In recent years, the demand for cooked and ready to-
eat food has been enhanced due to its ease of use. Many
microorganisms which have survived after the thermal
process, can cause undesirable changes in the product
and multiply during storage, and increase the health risk.
(Bingol & bostan, 2007). Application of antimicrobial
elements is one of the common ways to maintain
microbial safety and increase the shelf life of food
products. Due to their efficiency and usefulness, nitrates
and nitrites are preferred in conjunction with
Clostridium botulinum which are the most important
food borne pathogens, and also effect the color of the
product ( Pegg et al , 2005). Since thousand years ago,
production of processed products had possibly started
with curing with salts of potassium nitrite. Nitric oxide is
reduced form of nitrite and nitrate and is responsible for
color and flavor forming reactions of the processed meat
and is also capable of participating in antimicrobial and
antioxidant activities and stabilizing the color.
(Vasavada & Cornforth, 2005 And Brooke et al , 2011)
However this material leads to the production of
carcinogens nitrosamine, causing digestive diseases such
as stomach cancer (Garcia et al, 2010). One of the main
properties of food components is to cause no adverse
sensory changes in the final product ( Smaoui1 et al ,
International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Technology (IJAERT)
Volume 2 Issue 3, June 2014, ISSN No.: 2348 8190
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2011 ). Lately, the application of organic acids and their
salts have been more considered due to their natural and
appropriate antimicrobial properties.
Lactic acid and its salts (acetate) are suggested to be
added as food additive. Because they naturally exist in
meat and fermented products, and influence many
pathogenic microorganisms and spoilage factors, while
nsuring no health risks and no negative impact on
sensory characteristics. Sodium and potassium lactate
are extensively applied as ingredients in fresh and
processed meats. Adding a small amount of sodium or
potassium lactate, salt and water can improve taste and
color, as well as meat tenderness and providing
antimicrobial and antioxidant activities ( Kim et al ,
2009a & 2010 and Mancini et al , 2009 ). Lactate can
minimize the oxidation of fats and stabilize color of
products. ( mancini et al , 2010 ) United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA) authorized the
addition of sodium or potassium lactate up to 8/4%
maximum, to prevent microbial growth in meat and
poultry products. As the second leading cause of quality
devaluation in meat products, oxidative rancidity is one
the effective elements especially in products with high
fat content. ( Cheng et al , 2007 ).Usage of lactate and
vinegar increases the authenticity and freshness and
reduces undesirable flavors and rancidity until 14 days
(Bradley et al, 2011) lactate improves pro sensory
characteristics such as color, texture and taste,
demonstrate the antioxidant activity (kim et al, 2010a)
also increases reducing activity of matt myoglobin by
increment of reducing substrate (NADH). (Rodriguez,
2011)
Researchers conducted, mainly are emphasized on
nitrate removal by sodium lactate and other alternative
materials so that the biological results obtained in all
cases, show that sodium lactate indicates a better
performance than sodium nitrite, although in all cases
the color of the product was unsuitable as natural color
of heated meat.( Enver et al 2007, Smaoui et al 2011 and
Seydim et al 2006 ).
II. EFFECT OF SODIUM NITRATE AND
SODIUM ACETATE IN MEAT
PRODUCTS
The use of nitrite and nitrate in meat products factories
commonly implicate processing. (Oxford Dictionery
2000) Other words, like curing meat can also be used for
this task. Nitrate and nitrite are used in cured meat
products. In most countries they are used as assistance of
sodium and potassium and the remaining amount can be
controlled or used according to the rules and laws.
Nitrite is an effective substance that acts primarily as a
deterrent for some; MO. Nitrite is added to meat paste
and to some extent, is oxidized by oxygen and conversed
into nitrate. Therefore acts as an antioxidant. Part of
nitrite binds to myoglobin, and form heat stable pigment
nitrous myoglobin (Honikel, 2008). Nitrite can form
carcinogenic nitrosamine in the acidic environment in
the stomach. In the first three decades of the nineteenth
century, a large number of deaths occurred due to nitrite
poisoning in meat products, so that Germany
government came up with nitrite limitation laws as the
solution to the problem.
Figure 1 - Terms of nitrosamine formation and chemical
reactions, only two types of amines are able to form
nitrosamine. The amines of first type immediately break
into alcohol and nitrogen; tertiary amines are not able to
form nitrosamine (Honikel, 2008).
Antimicrobial effect of lactate in meat and meat products
was studied and its effect against many spoilage micro-
organisms and disease is proven. Lactate and sensory
properties of products such as color, improve texture and
taste, and also exhibit antioxidant effect.
It was observed that sodium lactate minimizes the loss of
taste, and palatability during storage is increased with
increment of 1% sodium lactate. It was observed that 1%
sodium lactate retains the red color of the pork sausages
while increasing the salty taste of the meat. The
differences in color between samples containing nitrite
and sodium lactate have been observed. In samples
containing sodium nitrite pinkish red color was visible,
while the natural color of cooked meat were observed in
samples containing sodium lactate, so that depending on
the type of consumer, that might be a bad combination
(Jensen et al, 2003)
The significant effect of sodium lactates in meat
products is its ability to increase the shelf life. The
product containing 8/1% sodium lactate did not show
International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Technology (IJAERT)
Volume 2 Issue 3, June 2014, ISSN No.: 2348 8190
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any corruption at the end of 60th day when compared
with a control group that demonstrated corruption on the
30th day while applying no preservative. In samples
containing 6/0% and 2/1% sodium lactate changes in
texture and color were observed after 45 days and 60
days (Bingol & bostan, 2007). Retention of meat and
poultry products can increase up to 30 to 150% by
application of sodium lactate. It is specified that the
usage of sodium lactate in fresh pork sausages is
effective in maintaining low bacterial counts and
increases shelf life is about two weeks longer than the
control group. It is reported that sodium lactate increases
the shelf-life of products such as ham and sausages
approximately for 1-2 weeks. Besides, addition of 1.2%
sodium lactate increases durability of the Swiss Sliced
chickens respectively, 3 to 4 times more than before.(
using air atmosphere packaging and temperature at 5 to
7) (Cubina, 1995).
The anti botulism effect of sodium lactate on
Clostridium botulinum has been confirmed. Sodium
lactate reduces the population of bacteria and spore
bearing anaerobic in meat during storage, providing
further effects than nitrite. Yeasts isolated from meat
products show 10 times the resistance to sodium lactate.
Sodium lactate is determined to show no significant
impact on yeasts, while molds are delayed up to 30 days
(Bingol & bostan, 2007). Furthermore, in a research
conducted by (Apostolidis et al, 2008), Water-soluble
phenolic extracts of oregano and Nagorno Qath were
tested in combination ratio of 50:50 with 2% sodium
lactate in the concentration of 750 ppm, which led to the
best results. Function of phenol of these two plants
justifies their usage instead of proline. Proline
accelerates the growth of bacteria and when it is
associated with sodium lactate, can act as a multilayer
shield against bacteria. Effect of rosemary extract and
sodium lactate on the quality of vacuum-packed ostrich
meat containing 2% sodium lactate and 2/0% rosemary
extract was evaluated that resulted in quite sensible
aerobic bacteria reduction in samples. But in the case of
lactic acid bacteria and Brochothrix
Thermosphacta, combination of rosemary and sodium
lactate, is more effective than sodium lactate alone from
the start day to the sixth. Although sodium lactates
works well as bacterial inhibitors and antioxidant factors
in ostrich meat. Sodium lactate and rosemary illustrate a
better microbial results compared to the time they are
used alone, that shows the Synergistic effects of these
two items. Thus, sodium lactate, alone or in combination
with rosemary extract can maintain good chemical
quality of the product and reduce microbial growth and
increase shelf life of ostrich products in the cold storage.
(Atif C. Seydim et al, 2006). Concentration of 7/2%
sodium lactate has a greater effect than 7/1% sodium
lactate in fresh pork and turkey sausage. It is notable that
the aerobic and anaerobic bacteria are reduced with
increasing concentrations of sodium lactate. High levels
of lactate ions may change the reaction of pyruvate to
lactate, which is closer to the thermodynamic
equilibrium (Vasavada et al, 2003). In addition, sodium
lactate salt that acts as a fragmented acid, which passes
through the membrane of bacteria causing the acidic
intracellular environment (Corpenter & Braodbent
2009). An investigation found that intracellular pH and
cell metabolism may be quickly reduced by denaturation
of the cell bodies and cell death occurs (Bradley et al,
2011). Therefore, adding sodium lactate is suggested to
lower the water activity and hence reduces microbial
growth. Many researchers have reported that sodium
lactate did not change the pH and water activity effect is
the only reason for the microbial growth delay
(Vasavada et al, 2003). According to (Gonzalez-
fandoseal 2009), system buffering acid capacity seems to
be effective in keeping pH low. It was found that sodium
lactate helps to maintain pH stability during storage
periods due to the buffering capacity of the material.
Chemical changes, microbial effects and sensory
characteristics of chicken cured by lactic acid in various
concentrations of 1%, 8/0, 6/0, 5/0 3/0, 2/0, and sodium
lactate at 3% and 5/2, 2 , 5/1, 1 have been studied in 4
cases. Results indicate that both types of compounds
fight against the proliferation of spoilage
microorganisms such as Staphylococcus aureus,
Salmonella spp, Pseudomonas, Enterobacteriaceae,
psychrophilic and aerobic bacteria. In this study, sodium
lactate did not change the organoleptic properties of the
final product, and addition of sodium lactate improves
the usual taste of the meat as well as minimizing the
flavor loss during storage. 1% sodium lactate improves
pleasant taste, but no improvement is seen in 1 to 2%.
(Smaoui1 et al, 2011). The sensory characteristics did
not change with the addition of sodium lactate and taste
of the samples slightly improved. Compared with the
pinkish red color of the samples containing sodium
nitrite, samples containing lactate maintained natural
meat color. Sodium lactate delays microbial growth,
which depends on its concentration. Sodium lactate will
not cause a change in the PH during storage is effective
International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Technology (IJAERT)
Volume 2 Issue 3, June 2014, ISSN No.: 2348 8190
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in microbial quality. The study found that adding sodium
lactate to the sausages improved the microbial quality
which depends on the concentration used, resulting in
long shelf life and better antimicrobial effect than
sodium nitrite. (Bingol & Boston, 2007).
III. EFFECT OF LACTATE ON
FORMATION OF NITRIC FROM
MYOGLOBIN AND NITROUS MATT
MYOGLOBIN
Myoglobin is the main protein responsible for meat
color. Although, other "Heme" proteins such as
hemoglobin and cytochrome C may be involved in the
formation of color of beef, lamb, pork and chicken
(mancini & hunt, 2005) the Effect of lactate on
formation of nitric from myoglobin and nitrous Matt
myoglobin was observed in cured meat system
performing 2 experiments, to determine the effect of
lactate on the nitrites in processed meats. In the first
experiment, the 8 models are used to study the reaction
between compounds containing nitrite and lactate to
determine the effects of each compound on the activity
of reducing matt myoglobin. Except lactate, nicotine
amide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), L - lactate
dehydrogenase (LDH) or phenazine Methosulphate
(PMS), did not lead to reduction activities. The second
experiment utilizes the meat combination to assess the
lactate (% 6 or 4, 2, 0), nitrite (ppm 156 or 0) and
packaging (exposed to oxygen or vacuum) effect on
remaining nitrite, meat color and pH. Addition of lactate
reduces residues nitrite.
Both experiments support the hypothesis that lactate,
produces NADH that results in detraction of Matt
myoglobin to dioxy myoglobin (Brooke et al, 2011).
Lactate improves color stability in vacuum packaging
and packaging with high oxygen. ( Mancini et al , 2009).
This could be due to increased activity of reducing Met
myoglobin by the NADH produced by lactate
dehydrogenase (Kim et al, 2009b) or by the reaction
between lactate and myoglobin (Mancini et al, 2009).
The difference in spread internal color and biochemical
characteristics of cooked steak increases by both D, L
lactate, which shows that the coupling reactions of
lactate-LDH may be a potential mechanism for the
spreading the color of flesh containing lactates (kim et
al, 2010b). Higher concentrations of these materials also
reduce the hemoglobin which subsequently reacts with
nitrite to produce more nitric oxide, resulting in reducing
the concentration and then accelerating nitrite curing
reaction ( Brooke et al , 2011 ). Reducing agents such as
sodium sorbate or sodium ascorbate, and reducing
product of pH, significantly increase the reduction of
nitrite to nitric oxide in processed meat (2008 and
Honikel).
Sodium lactate, allows the re-shaping of oximyoglobin
from reduced dioximyoglobin, which leads to the
formation of durable reddish color in meat which is
customer satisfactory. (2005, Mancini & Hunt). . Recent
research has shown that hydroxy hemoglobin activities
correlate with nitrate reductase activity that forms nitric
oxide in biological systems. (Hendgen-Cotta et al , 2008
) In addition, direct reaction between dioxy myoglobin
and nitrite, lead to formation of nitric oxide and at the
same time, the production of nitrous myoglobin is
suggested as a reaction occurring during meat curing.
Nitrite reduction to nitric oxide is associated with
oxidation of dioxymyoglobin in meat systems. It can be
assumed that the addition of lactate to the meat will
increase myoglobin reduction capacity to produce more
dioximyoglobin. Nitric oxide is more formed
subsequently and proceeds reduction in residual nitrite
and develops nitric oxide production to increase meet
processing reactions in the presence of lactate (brooke et
al, 2011).
Limited research was carried out on the effect of lactate
on the normally processed meat color when lactate is
used as an antimicrobial agent. Thus, this research aims
to identify and assess the effect of lactate on nitrous
myoglobin formed by the reaction of LDH - LDH in
model systems (Experiment 1), and processed meats
(Experiment 2).
Nitrite reduction in the presence of lactate has been
observed that confirms the further production of nitric
oxide from lactate much more than nitrite and
myoglobin. As a result, the addition of lactate in
processed meat is a common approach of bacterial
control that conceivably has brought about the
completion of the reaction of nitrite reduction to nitric
oxide and improves processing color.
IV. CONCLUSION
According to the studies microbial growth has been
more significantly decreased when lactate is added to
meat products, compared to nitrite, and lactate shows a
better performance as an antimicrobial. Sodium lactate
has been proved to cause no change in the sensory
characteristics of the product and slight improvement in
the flavor. The only flaw is the inability to form a
International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Technology (IJAERT)
Volume 2 Issue 3, June 2014, ISSN No.: 2348 8190
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www.ijaert.org
pinkish red as is accepted as the common color of
prepared meat products using nitrite. ( Bingol & bostan ,
2007 ) However, problems with taste occur at high
concentrations (2%) (Williams and. Phillips, 1998) . In
this paper, the effects of adding sodium lactate to meat
products and examination of its effect on the sodium
nitrite was addressed. The following paper is looking for
a method that would achieve the best results by reducing
nitrate and increasing sodium lactate at the same time.
The hope is that the meat products industries can
develop and evolve through these effortless and
inexpensive preservatives.
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