Quality assessment of Srpska sausage from nine different manufacturers in Serbia

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the quality of 11 different samples of Srpska sausage from 9 manufacturers in Serbia who responded to a public call of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia in order to improve the brand of Srpska sausage. For characterising properties of the Srpska sausages chemical composition analysis and sensory descriptive analysis were used. The chemical analysis showed that all the samples had a meat protein content higher than the stipulated minimum (12%), that the total phosphorus content (expressed as P2O5, g/kg), the content of NaNO2 (mg/kg), and the content of collagen in the meat protein (%) is lower than the maximum permitted level (8.00 g/kg, 150.00 mg/kg, and 20.00%, respectively). In the sensory analysis following attributes were evaluated: external appearance, cross-section appearance (including colour), texture, odour, flavour and overall sensory quality. The best-evaluated was a sample with a mean cumulative score of 87.23±8:33, and the worse-evaluated was a sample with a mean cumulative score of 51.65±10.05. There were not significantly differences between four samples with highest cumulative scores. The sausage with the highest score was evaluated as best by 35% of panellists, followed by third (25% of panellists), second and fourth (15% of panellists). The quality parameters of the highest ranked "Srpska sausage" will be submitted to the competent state authorities as amendments to the current Regulation.