Discussion and Conclusions

1. PORTUGUESETRADITIONAL SAUSAGE,“ALHEIRA”,MADEWITHDIFFERENTMEAT: SENSORY EVALUATION ANDTEXTURE. Elias1, M., Mota1, F., Fraqueza2, M.J., Barreto2, A. and Agulheiro-Santos1, A.C. 1University of Évora, School of Science and Technology. Institute of Mediterranean Agrarian and Ambient Sciences (ICAAM), Apartado 94, 7002-554 Évora, Portugal 2 Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, CIISA, Technical University of Lisbon, Av. da Universidade Técnica, Pólo Universitário, Alto da Ajuda, 1300-477 Lisboa, Portugal Abstract At a Portuguese traditional meat plant 6 different formulas were used to produce “alheira”, a Portuguese traditional fermented sausage, from the north region, usually made with chopped meat from pork and poultry and with bread. Results from TPA suggest that texture of “alheiras” made with meat from poultry (more common) or Alentejano pig breed (never done before) are similar while “alheiras” made with extreme beef meat showed different textural characteristics comparing with the others. Considering sensory analysis results, no differences were found between studied formulas. However taste intensity was higher in “alheiras” made with extreme meat beef and also in those made with the mixture of Alentejano pig breed and poultry meat. Objectives The goal of the present research was to study the influence of beef (unusual) and Alentejano pig breed meat (never used) in sensory and textural characteristics of “alheira”.   Material • Sensoryevaluation: • Descriptiveandquantitativeanalysis, • Scalefrom 1 to 100, • 10 trainedpanellists, • 5 samples per formulation for eachpanellist. Six different formulations of “alheira” were studied: • Texture Profile Analysis (TPA): • Using a Stable Micro System TA-Hdi, • Compress platen (10cm diameter), • Samples cylindrical with 3.5cm of diameter and 1cm of height, • compressed twice to 50% of the initial height. • Each of the five units tested per formulation was analyzed in four different points so there were 20 entries for each formula. 59th International Congress of Meat Science and Technology Izmir 2013 Results Table 1 – Means and standard deviation for rheological evaluation considering six formulas for “alheira” production. Figures 1, 2 and 3 – Mean values for several sensory attributes, considering six different formula (A, B, C, D, E and F). Different letters in the same column mean significant differences, for p<0,05 Discussion and Conclusions Attending to rheological results, “alheiras” made with formula A presented highest hardness, springiness, gumminess and chewiness values. These results suggested that consumers spent more energy and more time until the product state ready for swallowing. Formula F products exhibited the lowest “hardness” and “adhesiveness” evaluation. Considering the results from sensory evaluation, formula F obtained the highest values for “global evaluation” (71.89). For that “global evaluation” ratings nearby were obtained for formulas A (69.22) and B (69.00). “Masticability” highest values were registered in formulas A (72.56), B (72.11) and F (70.33). Those results showed the relevance of two referred attributes, “aspect” and “masticalbility” in the global evaluation of “alheira”, in the present study. Is possible to produce “alheira” using beef and alentejano pig breed meat with good orgnoleptical quality. Acknowledgments This work has been partially financed by the PRODER Project (National Portuguese project), Medida 4.1/ 2009, Nº 13.021. Melhoria da qualidade de enchidos tradicionais alentejanos pelo recurso a baixos teores de sal, monitorização do tempo de fumagem e utilização de culturas de arranque (2010 - 2014). The authors thanks to ICAAM (Institute of Mediterranean Agrarian and Ambient Sciences), from University of Évora.