Effect of nitrate and nitrite curing salts on lipolysis in dry sausages produced using a rapid fermentation process

The effect of nitrite and nitrate curing salts on lipolysis in a typical non-smoked Spanish sausage (salchichon), manufactured using a rapid dry fermentation process, was studied. From the results obtained, one could deduce that nitrite and nitrate per se do not affect the endogenous hydrolysis of the lipids during the rapid fermentation process used to produce dry sausage. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) are liberated in greater quantities than monounsaturated (MUFA) and saturated (SFA) ones, which suggests that they are derived mainly from phospholipids. The samples that contained nitrate curing salts contained more free fatty acids (FFA) (548 mg/100 g) than those that contained nitrite curing salts (478 mg/100g) at the end of the fermentation step, as a consequence of having undergone a preripening stage, during which significant amounts of FFA are formed. However, at the end of the ripening process, although there is a significant increase of FFA levels in all the sausages, no significant differences between samples with nitrite and those with nitrate could be found. This result could have occurred if the oxidative effects of the samples with nitrate balanced the antioxidative properties of nitrite, such that, through different processes, similar concentrations of FFA are obtained at the end of ripening. Phospholipids (PL) and free fatty acids (FFA) are the lipid fractions that undergo the most important changes during ripening. PL are moderately degraded during the drying process, probably due to the combined effects of the drying temperature (10 degrees C) and the presence of starters. However, this degradation does not differ significantly between the samples that contain nitrite and and those that contain nitrate in each control.