Partial Replacement of NaCl by KCl, MgCl(2) and CaCl(2) Chloride Salts in the Production of Sucuk: Effects on Volatile Compounds, Lipid Oxidation, Microbiological and Sensory Properties

The effects of different chloride salt mixtures (I-control: 100% NaCl, II: 50:50—NaCl:KCl, III: 50:30:20—NaCl:KCl:MgCl(2), IV: 50:30:20—NaCl:KCl:CaCl(2), V: 50:30:10:10—NaCl:KCl:MgCl(2):CaCl(2)) on the quality properties of sucuk (a dry fermented beef sausage) during ripening were investigated. Lactic acid bacteria reached 8 log cfu/g in the 3 days of fermentation in all treatments. However, salt mixtures including MgCl(2) caused an increase in Micrococcus/Staphylococcus. The control group showed the lowest mean a(w) value at the end of ripening. The salt mixture with 20% CaCl(2) showed the lowest mean pH value of 4.97. The mean TBARS value varied between 6.34 and 6.97 µmol MDA/kg but was not affected by the salt mixtures (p > 0.05). According to the results of PCA, salt mixtures I, II and III had a positive correlation in PC1, and PC1 also separated salt mixtures with CaCl(2) (IV and V) from other groups. In addition, a strong positive correlation between the control and III group (50:30:20—NaCl:KCl:MgCl(2)) for sensory properties was determined by heatmap clustering analysis. In addition, the principal component analysis showed that the control, II, and III groups had a stronger correlation with each other for volatile compounds.