The study investigated whether the inhibitory effects of nisin on the increase in total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) content caused by L-arginine (Arg) or L-lysine (Lys) in Cantonese sausage. Nisin had minimal influence on water activity and pH. However, it significantly reduced the content of non-protein nitrogen from 5.23 (or 5.32) to 4.57 (or 4.53) mg/g, amino acid nitrogen content from 3.41 (or 3.38) to 2.96 (or 2.93) mg/g, TVB-N content from 55.92 (or 48.21) to 36.46 (or 36.14) mg/100 g, and biogenic amines content from 58.69 (or 57.28) to 51.89 (or 47.36) mg/100 g. In contrast, it increased the contents of trichloroacetic acid-soluble peptide from 5.55 (or 4.99) to 6.54 (or 6.40) mg/g during 28 days of storage in Cantonese sausages containing Arg (or Lys). In these two sausage samples, nisin also decreased the total bacterial count from 6.13 (or 6.10) to 5.31 (or 5.36) (lg (CFU/g)), the count of lactic acid bacteria from 6.08 (or 6.09) to 5.24 (or 5.13) (lg (CFU/g)), and the activity of amino acid decarboxylase from 0.63 (or 0.65) to 0.57 (or 0.60) U/g. Lactic acid bacteria were predominant in all the sausage samples. Thus, nisin effectively suppressed the Arg- or Lys-induced increase in TVB-N content by inhibiting the growth of lactic acid bacteria, which secrete amino acid decarboxylase. The results provide technical support for using Arg or Lys for producing low-sodium and low-phosphorus Cantonese sausages.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of adding different amounts (0.05%, 0.10%, 0.15% and 0.20%) of rosemary extract (RE) mixed with 0.6% of L-arginine (Arg) on the cooking loss, color, texture, pH, microstructure, thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARs) value, carbonyl content and sensory quality of emulsion-type sausages. The results showed that compared with the control group, the addition of 0.6% of Arg alone significantly reduced the cooking loss, improved the redness value (a*), hardness, pH and overall acceptance, but increased the TBARs value and carbonyl content of emulsion-type sausages, and resulted in the formation of smaller, more uniform and regular fat droplets. The addition of low concentrations of RE (0.05%–0.15%) to the sausage with 0.6% of Arg could further enhance a* and overall acceptability and delay the increase in TBARs value and carbonyl content as well as the decrease in pH without any obvious adverse effects on the cooking loss, texture or microstructure. However, the addition of a high concentration of RE (0.20%) could reduce the hardness of the sausage with 0.6% of Arg. Based on the above results, the appropriate amount of RE added to emulsion-type sausages was 0.15%.