• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.147-151
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• 2001

The combined effect of water-soluble chitosan oligomer and irradiation on changes in quality of perk sausage made with (156 ppm) or without NaNO$_{2}$ was determined. The pH of nonirradiated sausage without NaNO$_{2}$ decreased significantly during 3 wks of storage, but the pH of irradiated sausage did not. Irradiation at 4.5 kGy did not increase the Hunter color a-value but 10 and 20 kGy showed significantly higher a-values in the sausage with chitosan oligomer (p < 0.05). The sausage with NaNO$_{2}$ had higher sensory scores than that without NaNO$_{2}$, and irradiated sausage had lower scores in overall acceptance. Results indicate that further research is needed to achieve consumers sensory standards for irradiating cooked meat products.