Effect of Lactarius delicious on the Texture Quality of Fat-Reduced Emulsified Sausages

One of the problems facing the field of meat industry is that reducing the fat content may cause the texture of meat products to deteriorate. In this study, the effects of the addition of different amounts (0%, 1%, 2%, 4%, and 8%) of Lactarius delicious to fat-reduced emulsified sausages on its cooking loss, water distribution, microstructure, texture properties, physicochemical properties, and sensory characteristics were evaluated. The cooking loss of fat-reduced emulsified sausages significantly decreased upon the addition of Lactarius delicious (P < 0.05); the addition of 2% of Lactarius delicious decreased this parameter by 60%. The results of low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR) showed that the addition of 2% of Lactarius delicious significantly increased the peak area ratio of immobile water and reduced the peak area ratio of free water (P < 0.05), indicating that Lactarius delicious can improve the water-holding capacity of the sausage. Adding Lactarius delicious increased the number and distribution uniformity of water holes in fat-reduced emulsified sausage, and thus improved its microstructure, with the most pronounced effect being observed at an addition level of 2%. The addition of Lactarius delicious had no significant effect on the pH value, but made the color of the final product darker. The textural properties and sensory scores of emulsified sausages decreased significantly after reducing fat, while the addition of 2% of Lactarius delicious significantly improved the textural properties and increased the sensory evaluation scores of fat-reduced emulsified sausages to levels similar to those of regular emulsified sausages (P < 0.05). In conclusion, adding Lactarius delicious is an effective method to improve the texture of fat-reduced sausages, and the optimal addition level is 2%.