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Abstract: The influence of sodium chloride on the water holding capacity of meat is well known and described in literature. An increase in water holding capacity is associated with an increase in the swelling pressure in the protein matrix. A novel device was used to measure the swelling pressure during brine salting of muscle cylinders (40×50mm), in different NaCl brine concentrations (2.5 to 25%) over 6days at 4°C. Changes in meat composition, weight and height of non-constrained control samples were also measured. The aim of this work was to prove the feasibility of using the developed device in order to quantify the influence of the brine concentration on the magnitude of the swelling pressure. The obtained results indicated the adequacy of the developed device for measuring the meat swelling, while a good correlation of the swelling pressure and the changes in weight and height of the samples was observed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The reduction of added sodium chloride in dry-cured ham has been proposed to reduce dietary sodium intake in Mediterranean countries. The effect of substituting sodium chloride with potassium chloride, calcium chloride and magnesium chloride on some physicochemical characteristics of dry-cured ham during processing was evaluated. The results showed that hams salted with a mixture of sodium and potassium chloride registered higher salt concentrations and lower water contents and thus, needed less time to reach the required weight loss at the end of the process. The opposite effect was observed when calcium and magnesium chloride were added to the salt mixture. The observed differences in the texture and colour parameters were mainly due to differences in water and salt content. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The consumption of cured meat products is not recommended to hypertensive consumers due to its high sodium content. This constitutes an important restriction for this industry, which is becoming more and more important due to the current trends in consumption. The partial replacement of sodium chloride by potassium chloride has been proposed as a possible strategy to reduce the sodium content of this type of products. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect brought about by partial replacement of sodium chloride with potassium chloride (up to 70%) on physicochemical and microbiological parameters of dry-cured pork loin after the curing and drying process. The results showed that it is possible to obtain low sodium dry-cured loin, up to a 50% replacement of sodium by potassium, with similar physicochemical characteristics to the commercial product with usual amounts of sodium. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The use of the simultaneous brine thawing/salting on frozen raw material was compared in a previous work with the traditional pile salting method. The aim of this study was to characterise and compare the post-salting stage in Spanish cured ham production by processing fresh and thawed raw material with the traditional pile salting method (which can be considered as the reference method), with the results obtained using the brine thawing/salting method, with and without applying vacuum impregnation. The obtained results show that the thawed salted hams exhibited a higher NaCl diffusion than the fresh ones, implying a shorter post-salting period. Post-salting stage could be reduced from the 50 days employed in the traditional fresh raw material salting, to 25 days when using frozen hams brine thawed/salted. No influence of the use of vacuum impregnation during the salting stage was observed on the post-salting period. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Salting, is one of the fundamental operations in Spanish cured ham manufacturing, and is basic in order to preserve the product throughout its processing and storage. Pile salting is the method traditionally employed to accomplish this step. The use of frozen raw material has become quite frequent in the industry, and it implies a preliminary thawing step in a cold chamber. The aim of this study is the analysis of the first step in ham production (salting) and the influence of simultaneous brine thawing/salting and vacuum impregnation in the salting stage of Spanish cured ham. The results indicated a reduction in the salting time when using the brine thawing/salting method, which was performed together with vacuum impregnation. Further studies need to be done in order to fully understand the influence of these new salting methods on the following manufacturing steps and the final quality characteristics. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Dry-cured ham consumption is restricted by hypertensive consumers due to its high sodium content. This constitutes an important matter for this industry, being relevant due to the current trends in consumption. In order to prevent the problems related to the high sodium intake, one of the possibilities is the total or partial replacement of sodium by other ions, such as potassium, calcium and magnesium. The aim of this study was to characterise the post-salting stage in Spanish cured ham production with the results obtained after salting with low sodium salt content. The results showed that lower sodium hams needed more time of post-salting to reach similar water activity values than those achieved by hams salted with 100% NaCl. Nevertheless, no differences in microbial counts were observed among the studied batches, although a sharp decrease in microbiota was observed when the, post-salting time was prolonged in the lower sodium hams. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]