Physicochemical Properties and Shelf-Life of Regular-Fat Sausages with Various Levels of Grape Tomato Powder Prepared by Different Drying Methods

This study was aimed to investigate the physicochemical properties, texture, and antioxidant, and antimicrobial activities of regular-fat sausages (RFSs) mixed with 0.25 and 0.5% of oven-dried and freeze-dried grape tomato powder (GTP, 150 μm) during storage at 4°C. RFSs were made by six treatments that included: control (CTL), REF (sausages with 0.1% ascorbic acid alone), F1GTPSs (F1) and F2GTPSs (F2) (sausages with 0.25% and 0.5% freeze-dried GTP), and O1GTPSs (O1) and O2GTPSs (O2) (sausages with 0.25% and 0.5% GTP oven-dried at 100°C). Sausages with added oven-dried grape tomato powders (OGTPs) showed decreased pH, lightness (L*), total plate count (TPC), and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) compared to the sausages mixed with freeze-dried GTP (FGTPSs), but also had the highest redness (a*) and yellowness (b*) values among the treatments. With increasing levels of GTP, the hardness and chewiness of the sausages gradually decreased and these were decreased more in the FGTPSs (F) than in the OGTPSs (O). Compared to the FGTPSs, OGTPSs had higher antioxidant and antimicrobial activities, which extend the shelf-life of meat products. Application of OGTP to RFSs resulted in higher lipid antioxidant, antimicrobial activities, improving physicochemical properties and extended the shelf-life.