Meat industry needs to reduce salt in their products due to health issues. The present study evaluated the
effect of salt reduction from 6% to 3% in two Portuguese traditional blood dry-cured sausages. Physicochemical
and microbiological parameters, biogenic amines, fatty acids and texture profiles and sensory
panel evaluations were considered. Differences due to salt reduction were perceptible in a faint decline
of water activity, which slightly favoured microbial growth. Total biogenic amines content ranged from
88.86 to 796.68 mg kg1 fresh matter, with higher amounts, particularly of cadaverine, histamine and
tyramine, in low-salt products. Still, histamine and other vasoactive amines remained at low levels, thus
not affecting consumers’ health. Regarding fatty acids, no significant differences were observed due to
salt. However, texture profile analysis revealed lower resilience and cohesiveness in low-salt products,
although no textural changes were observed by the sensory panel. Nevertheless, low-salt sausages were
clearly preferred by panellists.