The addition of rosemary extract as the commercially
available FORTIUMTM R20 clearly provided significant
protection of color and freshness for pork sausage products.
While the antioxidant effectiveness of rosemary extract
is well recognized, the differential effectiveness of the
rosemary extract in fresh versus cooked-frozen pork sausage
relative to BHA/BHT indicates that each application
should be considered on its own merits. For
example, in this study, the rosemary extract, applied at
2500 ppm was as effective as the maximumpermitted concentrations
of BHA/BHT in refrigerated, fresh pork sausage
and in cooked-frozen sausage, but was superior to
BHA/BHT in raw-frozen pork sausage patties. Given
the results of these studies, rosemary extract clearly provides
an alternative to synthetic antioxidants for extending
the shelf life of processed meats such as pork sausage
and appears to be particularly effective for raw-frozen
pork sausage products