evaluation of microbial and sensory properties of red meat sausage formulated with carmine dye and cumin essential oil as nitrate substitute

Nitrate and nitrite have a long history of use in processed meat products and several studies have been done about their replacement with healthier alternatives. in this work, the production of nitrite-free sausages containing cumin essential oil (eo) and carmine dye was studied for the first time. concentrations of 200, 400, and 600 mg/kg carmine alone and in combination with 2 ml cumin eo were added to sausages containing 40% w/w meat. microbial growth and sensory attributes were studied in the samples during storage. principal component analysis (pca) was done for better comparison of the control (formulated with 12o my/kg sodium nitrite) and the treatments. the sample containing 2 ml cumin eo and 600 mg/kg carmine (t7) could successfully suppress the microorganisms. the main concern was related to clostridium perfringens as an indicator of c. botulinum in the product. fortunately, t7 was superior to the control in the suppression of c. perfringens. according to pca, t7 was similar to the control in a variation of microbial contamination during storage and it was accepted by sensory panelists the same as the control. furthermore, no significant differences were observed between the sample containing 2 ml cumin eo and 400 mg/kg carmine (t6) and the control in microbial and sensory experiments. in conclusion, the addition of 400-600 mg/kg carmine and 2 ml cumin eo to sausage led to the development of healthier products. given the health concerns arising from synthetic preservatives, our selected formula can be developed as organic nitrate-free sausage to prevent side effects of nitrosamine in the consumers.