Investigations were carried to study the effect of heart incorporation (0%, 15% and 20%) and increasing levels of fat (20% and 25%) on
physicochemical (pH, moisture content and thiobarbituric acid, TBA number) and microbiological (total plate count and yeast and mold
count) quality and shelf life of semi dry sausages of buffalo meat during refrigerated storage (4 C). Different levels of fat significantly
(p < 0.05) increased the pH of the sausage samples. However different levels of heart incorporation did not significantly (p < 0.05) affect
pH, moisture content and TBA number of sausage samples. Fresh samples had pH, moisture content and TBA number in the range of
5.15–5.28, 42.4–47.4% and 0.073–0.134 respectively. Refrigerated storage significantly (p < 0.05) increased TBA number of control samples
while storage did not significantly (p < 0.05) increase the TBA number of sodium ascorbate (SA) treated samples. Total plate counts
of twelve sausage samples were f under the TFTC (too few to count) limit at the initial stage. Incorporation of different levels of heart and
also increasing levels of fat did not significantly (p < 0.05) increase the log TPC/g values. Yeast and molds were not detected in twelve
samples of semi dry fermented sausages in their fresh condition. Storage revealed that there was a consistent decrease in pH, and moisture
content. Refrigerated storage significantly (p < 0.05) reduced both pH and moisture contents. TBA number and total plate counts
and yeast and mold counts of controls were found to increase significantly (p < 0.05) during refrigerated storage. However, in SA treated
sausage, only TPC and yeast and mold count significantly (p < 0.05) increased during refrigerated storage. Shelf life of the sausages was
found to be 60 days under refrigerated storage (4 C).
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