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Saltiness perception related to salt release of surimi emulsified sausages:

modulation in texture and microstructure by polysaccharides

Article  in  International Journal of Food Science & Technology · February 2021

DOI: 10.1111/ijfs.15006

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International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2021 1

Original article
Saltiness perception related to salt release of surimi emulsified
sausages: modulation in texture and microstructure by
polysaccharides

Xuejiao Wang,1,2 Tingting Feng1,2 & Shuqin Xia1,2*

1 State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi Jiangsu, 214122, China
2 School of Food Science and Technology, Collaborative Innovation Center of Food Safety and Quality Control, Jiangnan University, 1800
Lihu Road, Wuxi Jiangsu, 214122, China
(Received 24 November 2020; Accepted in revised form 15 February 2021)

Summary The effect of j-carrageenan (CG), high acyl gellan (HAG), xanthan gum (XG) and locust bean gum
(LBG) on the salt release and saltiness perception of surimi emulsified sausages was investigated. CG,
LBG and XG significantly reduced the fracture strain to 62.62%, 58.56% and 58.23%, causing the forma-
tion of disintegrating gels. Microstructure observation showed that sausages with CG or LBG had porous
structure, but the former formed an interpenetrating network and promoted hydrophobic interactions and
the formation of disulphide bonds, while the latter was physically filled in the protein network. The maxi-
mum salt release was observed in the sausage with CG due to rapid salt diffusion from porous and inter-
penetrating network structure. Sensory analysis further proved that the saltiness perception of sausages
was enhanced by CG. The present work provided an approach for salt reduction in sausages by facilitat-
ing salt release achieved by modulating the texture attributes and microstructure using polysaccharides.
Keywords Polysaccharides, salt release, saltiness, surimi sausages, j-carrageenan.

Introduction Similar results were also confirmed by Davidson et al.

(2000) previously. van den Berg et al. (2007) manufac-
Excessive sodium intake is associated with hyperten-
tured the mixed gels using whey protein and four dif-
sion and increases the risk of other diseases. World-
ferent polysaccharides and found that the breakdown
wide salt intake ranges from 6 to 14 g day 1, which is
mechanisms and serum release were the major factors
beyond the recommended intake of 5 g day 1 by the
affecting sensory perception.
World Health Organization (WHO, 2020). Therefore,
As for meat products, numerous polysaccharides
it is urgently needed to reduce the addition of salt
have also been introduced to modulate the texture and
without affecting the flavour and quality of foods.
gelation properties, such as xanthan gum, konjac man-
Increasing the salt release from the food matrix
nan, starch, pectin, alginate and carrageenan (Ayadi
makes more sodium ions be perceived, which is an
et al. 2009; Majzoobi et al. 2017; Ben Slima et al.
effective salt reduction approach and improves the util-
2018). Generally, these polysaccharides could enhance
isation rate of salt (van den Berg et al. 2007; Kuo &
cooking yield, improve water holding capacity, modify
Lee, 2014b; Benjamin et al., 2018). Such a salt reduc-
texture, replace fat addition and reduce formulation
tion method is usually achieved by modulating the tex-
cost (Ayadi et al. 2009; Ben Slima et al. 2018). j-car-
ture characteristics of food matrices. In the food
rageenan (CG), a linear sulphate anionic polysaccha-
industry, polysaccharides have been always employed
ride, could modulate the texture and sensory
to modulate the texture characteristics of food prod-
properties of meat protein gels by forming an indepen-
ucts. Benjamin et al. (2018) incorporated different
dent network to support the protein gel network
polysaccharides into the cheese matrix and indicated
(Zhang et al. 2018). However, Bater et al. (1992) also
that the cheese with higher moisture, brittle texture
proposed that the real interaction between carrageenan
and porous microstructure exhibited more salt release.
and myofibrillar protein in gel network formation was
*Correspondent: Fax: 86-510-85884496; e-mail:
unlikely to occur. Xanthan gum, a highly branched
sqxia@jiangnan.edu.cn anionic polysaccharide, has been used in meat

doi:10.1111/ijfs.15006
© 2021 Institute of Food Science and Technology
2 Texture and microstructure modulate saltiness X. Wang et al.
products acted as a ‘surfactant’ to reduce the size of
fat droplets, but seems impossible to produce a coher-
ent network that contributes to the physical structure
(Chattong et al. 2007). However, LBG exhibited a lim-
ited effect on reducing the size of oil droplets due to
the non-ionic nature and the presence of monosaccha-
ride side groups (Chattong et al. 2007). But to date,
the study regarding the effects of texture and
microstructure changes caused by polysaccharide
incorporation on saltiness perception and salt release
of sausages remained scarce.
In the present study, four representative polysaccha-
rides with different gel properties and electric charges,
including CG, HAG, XG and LBG, were employed to
the surimi sausages for modulating the texture and
microstructure. The relationship between texture attri-
butes, microstructure and salt release, saltiness percep-
tion of surimi sausages was investigated, which
provided a promising approach to improve the salt
release and further enhance saltiness perception.
Materials and methods
Materials
Commercial frozen silver carp surimi (FA-grade) was
supplied by Jingli Aquatic Food Co., Ltd., (Honghu,
China). Sodium chloride (NaCl) and sodium erythor-
bate were purchased from Mingrui Food-Additive Co.,
Ltd (Henan, China). Corn starch and pork fat were
purchased from a local supermarket in the city of
Wuxi. High acyl gellan (HAG), CG, locust bean gum
(LBG) and xanthan gum (XG) were supplied by DSM
Zhongken Biotechnology Co., Ltd (Zhejiang, China),
Jing xie Ocean Technology Development Co., Ltd
(Yantai, China), Zhongtai Food and Chemical Co.,
Ltd (Zhengzhou, China) and Fufeng Biotechnology
Co., Ltd (Linyi, China), respectively. Fluorescent
brightener 28 was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich Crop
(St Louis, MO, USA). Fluorescein isothiocyanate
(FITC), Nile red and other required chemicals were
analytical grade and obtained from Sinopharm Chemi-
cal Reagent Co. Ltd (Shanghai, China).
Surimi emulsified sausage preparations
According to the formulations of Garcia-Garcia &
Totosaus (2008) with some modification, control was
were prepared as follows: 60% commercial surimi, 2%
NaCl, 15% pork fat, 9% corn starch, 0.08% sodium
erythorbate, 13.92% ice water. The formulation of sau-
sages (HAG, CG, LBG and XG) with four polysaccha-
rides included 60% commercial surimi, 2% NaCl, 15%
pork fat, 9% corn starch, 0.08% sodium erythorbate,
12.92% ice water and 1% polysaccharides. As for
International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2021
sausages without starch, the water was used instead of
starch.
Commercial frozen surimi was cut into cubes and
thawed at 4 °C for 4 h. Then, NaCl and ice water
were added into the surimi and chopped with a bowl
chopper (ZB–80, Yingcan Machinery Co., Ltd, Shan-
dong, China) for 2 min at a speed of 1500 rpm. The
surimi batter was kept for 2 min to dissolve the
myofibrillar protein before adding pork fat and ice
water, which were also chopped for 2 min at a speed
of 1500 rpm. Finally, the corn starch, sodium erythor-
bate, ice water and polysaccharide were added and
mixed at a speed of 2100 rpm for another 6 min. After
vacuum degassing, the surimi batter was placed into a
plastic casing with a diameter of 2.2 cm and sealed at
both ends. The sausages were heated in a water bath
of 90 °C until a final internal temperature of 74 °C
was reached (Ayadi et al. 2009), then stored at 4 °C
before measurements. Three batches of 6 sausages
about 10 cm in length per treatment were prepared.
Uniaxial compression measurement
A uniaxial compression test was carried out by a tex-
ture analyser (XT PLUS/50, Stable Micro Systems,
Surrey, UK) with a load cell of 30 kg according to the
methods of Benjamin et al. (2018) and Kuo & Lee
(2014b). The sausage was cut into a cylinder
(Ø22 9 2 mm3). The device perimeters were set to
pretest speed 1 mm s 1, test speed 1 mm s 1, post-test
speed 1 mm s 1, trigger force 5 g and strain 80%.
Young’s modulus at 15% strain, fracture stress and
fracture strain were obtained from the stress-strain
curve. Twelve replicates for each sample were carried
out.
Confocal laser scanning microscopy
The samples were cut into slices with 16 lm thickness
by a freezing microtome (CM1950, Leica, Germany).
The protein and fat were dyed by 0.1 mg mL 1 fluo-
rescein isothiocyanate (FTIC) and Nile red, respec-
tively. Moreover, starch, HAG, CG, LBG and XG
were dyed by 0.1 mg mL 1 Fluorescein brightener.
The microstructure images were collected by a confo-
cal laser scanning microscope (LSM 710, Carl Zeiss
AG., Oberkochen, Germany). The fluorescence mole-
cules were excited with an Argon-laser for FITC (Ex,
488 nm), Nile red (Ex, 514 nm) and Fluorescein
brightener (Ex, 405 nm).
Environmental scanning electron microscope
The sausage was cut into small pieces of 3 mm thick-
ness and mounted on the stage of environmental
© 2021 Institute of Food Science and Technology
 Texture and microstructure modulate saltiness X. Wang et al. 3

scanning electron microscopy (ESEM; XL 30, Philips,
Amsterdam, The Netherlands). The microstructure of
all samples was observed at an accelerating voltage of
20 kV. Then, the images were obtained at the magnifi-
cation of 509 and 5009.
Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy
An Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer
(IS10, Nicolet, Madison, WI, USA) was employed to
acquire the spectra of all the freeze-dried samples. The
spectra range was set as 4000–400 cm 1 with a resolu-
tion of 4 cm 1.
et al. 2019). The control was considered as the refer-
ence sample and its salty intensity served as the score
5 of the scale. Furthermore, the texture (hardness, brit-
tleness, elasticity and adhesiveness), colour, aroma and
overall acceptability were evaluated by a 9-point hedo-
nic scale (1 = extremely dislike; 2 = very much dislike;
3 = moderately dislike; 4 = slightly dislike; 5 = neither
like nor dislike; 6 = slightly like; 7 = moderately like;
8 = very much like; 9 = extremely like) (Buamard &
Benjakul, 2015). Purified water and salt free crackers
were supplied to rinse mouth between samples. The
sensory tests were performed in a sensory laboratory
appropriately designed and lighted.

Dynamic salt release during compression Statistical analysis

A compression test combined stirring was employed to All results were expressed as mean values  standard
simulate chewing behaviour in oral processing. In this deviation (SD). Statistical analysis was performed
process, all soluble ions involved in mass transfer included one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA, SPSS
could induce conductivity changes. Therefore, the con- 20.0, Chicago, IL, USA) with Tukey’s honest signifi-
ductivity changes during compression and sequent stir- cant difference (HSD) post hoc test. The statistical sig-
ring of sausages were used to evaluate salt release nificance between samples was set at P < 0.05.
during chewing (Kuo & Lee, 2014b; Benjamin et al.
2018). In the present study, the change of conductivity
Results and discussion
during compression was mainly caused by the release
of NaCl (Supplementary data 1.1).
Fracture performance
The sausage was cut into a cylinder (2 cm in height)
and placed in a container containing 200 mL of ultra- The fracture strain represents the relative deformation
pure water. Subsequently, the sausage was subjected to when a material begins to fracture. As shown in
compression with 80% strain by a texture analyser Table 1, the fracture strain of the sausage containing
with the same parameters as mentioned in the section CG was 62.62%, which was significantly lower than
of texture measurement. The change of conductivity those of control (64.85%) and the sausage containing
every 3 s was recorded by an ST300C ZH conductivity HAG (65.47%). The lower stain of the sausage with
metre (OHAUS, New Jersey, NJ, USA) until 120 s CG showed that the sausage fractured earlier com-
under the agitation of 200 rpm. Rmax (maximum rate pared to the control and the sausage with HAG,
of salt release), Imax (maximum conductivity) and area resulting in gel rupture and larger surface area con-
under the curve (AUC) can be obtained according to tacted with saliva. For CG and HAG polysaccharides
the release curve. Rmax is the greatest slope calculated themselves, they were random coils (single chain)
from any three continuous data points along with the
conductivity–time curve. Imax is the conductivity of Table 1 Uniaxial compression test of surimi emulsified sau-
released salt at the end of the measurement. AUC is sages with different polysaccharides
the integral area of the curve, indicating the cumula-
Fracture Fracture Young’s modulus at
tive salt concentration.
strain stress 15% strain
(%) (MPa) (Pa)
Sensory evaluation
Control 64.85  0.94a 0.22  0.01a 928.22  115.10ab
Sensory evaluation was carried out by 30 selected High acyl gellan 65.47  0.89a 0.22  0.02a 1182.92  215.04a
assessors (n = 30) who were selected through two (HAG)
training sessions (Supplementary data 1.2). The sau- j-carrageenan 62.62  1.05b 0.20  0.01b 926.14  184.33ab
(CG)
sages were cut into a cylinder with 2 cm long and
Locust bean 58.56  1.42c 0.10  0.01c 682.31  255.83b
placed into containers coded with random three-digit gum (LBG)
numbers. The assessors were asked to evaluate for Xanthan gum 58.23  1.32c 0.11  0.01c 719.69  289.26b
salty intensity, texture (hardness, brittleness, elasticity (XG)
and adhesiveness), colour, aroma and overall accept-
ability of sausage samples. Among them, salty inten- Values in the same column with different letters are significantly differ-
sity was evaluated by a 9-cm unstructured scale (Paula ent (P < 0.05).

© 2021 Institute of Food Science and Technology International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2021
4 Texture and microstructure modulate saltiness X. Wang et al.
during the heating process, and then, the molecules
were transformed into an ordered double helix confor-
mation by hydrogen bonds and van der Waals forces
during the subsequent cooling process, resulting in the
formation of gels (Mangione et al. 2003; Chen et al.
2020). HAG has the capability to form elastic gels due
to the presence of glycerate groups (Fang et al. 2018),
whereas CG could form brittle and fragile gels (Fisz-
man & Dur an, 1992). Therefore, for the sausages stud-
ied in the present study, it was hypothesised that an
additional network might be formed by HAG and CG
and further interacted with the surimi protein network
in varying degrees (G omez-Guillen et al. 1996;
Ramırez et al. 2011). Brittle foods, which break down
during oral processing into more and smaller frag-
ments, are often perceived as more intensive in taste,
allowing salt content to be reduced while maintaining
taste perception (Stieger & van de Velde, 2013). A
small strain at fracture indicates that the material is
brittle and a high strain at fracture is usually recorded
in elastic material (Grossi et al. 2012).
Interestingly, sausages with LBG and XG exhibited
lower fracture strain and dramatically lower fracture
stress. That is, the sausages containing LBG and XG
tended to disintegrate at a relatively small strain and
stress. The phenomenon could be attributed to the fact
that XG and LBG endowed the sausage stickiness and
resulted in a soft texture due to the ability of XG and
LBG to give a very viscous solution (Zhou et al.
2014), which was also confirmed by tan d (Figure S1)
and TPA (Table S1). Moreover, the space occupation
caused by the self-aggregation of XG might result in
the distortion of the protein gel network, thereby
inducing a lower fracture strain of the sausage with
XG (Montero et al. 2000). Young’s modulus is related
to the network firmness. As shown in Table 1,
Young’s modulus values of sausages with HAG,
(a)
(b)
Figure 1 Environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM) images at (a) 509 magnification and (b) 5009 magnification.
International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2021
control and CG at 15% strain were significantly higher
than those of LBG and XG. The result was in line
with the hardness in TPA analysis (Table S1).
Microstructure changes in surimi emulsified sausages with
polysaccharides
The texture of gels was associated with many factors,
such as the interactions between protein and polysac-
charides, and microstructure of gels (Zhou et al. 2014)
Consequently, the ESEM and confocal laser scanning
microscopy (CLSM) were employed to observe the
microstructure changes of sausages after adding differ-
ent polysaccharides. At low magnification (509), all
samples exhibited a compact surface with different
amounts of pores (Fig. 1a). Among them, sausages
with CG and LBG presented porous structure, while
uniform and small pores disturbed in the sausage with
CG compared to the sausage containing LBG with dif-
ferent sizes of inhomogeneous pores.
At high magnification (5009; Fig. 1b), control
showed a compact microstructure, which might be due
to the fact that starch particles as fillers were filled in
the protein network. The sausages with CG and HAG
showed an interpenetrating and continuous
microstructure. The addition of CG and HAG induced
an additional gel network structure, which cross-linked
with protein network. Similar observations were also
reported by Ayadi et al. (2009). As illustrated in
Fig. 1b, some ridges (showed by arrows) were
observed in the microstructure of LBG sausage, which
could be explained by that LBG existed in discrete
regions, namely they were present in the interstitial
spaces of myofibrillar protein gel network and formed
ridges after cooling. Consequently, LBG might be
entrapped in the protein network just as fillers
(Ramı́rez et al. 2002), which did not form an
© 2021 Institute of Food Science and Technology

(a)
(b)
Figure 2 Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) images of surimi emulsified sausages (a) with and (b) without starch. Protein stained by
FITC shown as green; fat stained by Nile red shown as red; starch, high acyl gellan (HAG), j-carrageenan (CG), locust bean gum (LBG) and
xanthan gum (XG) stained by Fluorescent brightener shown as blue.
independent network. The sausage with XG showed a
compact microstructure with few large cavities, which
might be associated with the absence of independent
network induced by XG (Ramı́rez et al. 2002). These
observations provided an indication that LBG and CG
had no contribution to form a coherent network struc-
ture (Ayadi et al. 2009). Moreover, the higher adhe-
siveness of sausages containing LBG and XG in TPA
analysis (Table S1) may be induced by the existence of
large cavities in the sausage. During the compression
process, the probe transformed these cavities into a
vacuum environment, causing the sample to adhere to
the probe (Wolfer et al. 2018).
The distribution of polysaccharides in surimi protein
network
Figure 2a showed the microstructure of all samples
with starch observed by CLSM. In the control,
starch, shown as blue, was lined the walls of the
inclusion cavities to give the appearance of a planar
mesh (Garcia-Garcia & Totosaus, 2008). Starch was
distributed in the protein network due to the swelling
and water uptake during heating and subsequent
gelatinisation, resulting in a stable and order gel net-
work (Hunt et al. 2010). However, the starch and the
other four kinds of polysaccharides were indistin-
guishable because they can be stained with Fluores-
cein brightener. To clarify the effect of HAG, CG,
LBG and XG on the myofibrillar protein network,
the sausages without starch were prepared and also
observed by CLSM.
As clearly seen in Fig. 2b, the surimi proteins
formed the main gel network structure, and fat
© 2021 Institute of Food Science and Technology
Texture and microstructure modulate saltiness X. Wang et al. 5
integrated well with protein. Control without starch
showed an uneven and rough gel network with some
large cavities. In the images of sausages with HAG
and CG, an independent network was observed and
interweaved with the protein network and thus form
an interpenetrating and continuous network structure,
which was related to the interaction between protein
and HAG/CG. The different intermolecular forces
between polysaccharides and proteins resulted in the
different network microstructure of sausages.
Inversely, the sausages with LBG and XG exhibited
a rough microstructure distributed with larger cavities
(Fig. 2b). LBG, as a non-ionic polysaccharide, was
physically located in the cavities as a mesh of filaments
by inclusion in the protein matrix (Montero et al.
2000). LBG and proteins appeared to be no areas to
interact or contact. The addition of XG deformed the
myofibrillar protein network to some extent due to the
high molecular weight (Montero et al. 2000). In
essence, LBG and XG could not form a gel network
but increase the stickiness.
FTIR spectra analysis
The formation of the surimi gel network after heating
is mainly caused by ionic bonds, hydrogen bonds,
hydrophobic interaction and disulphide bonds.
Polysaccharides have an influence on the gelation pro-
cess of myofibrillar protein, thereby causing changes in
the texture and microstructure of sausages. As illus-
trated in Fig. 3, the band at 3200–3600 cm 1 was
assigned to O–H stretching vibration and overlaps
with the stretching of N–H bonds from amino groups
(Zhou et al. 2014). The O–H and N–H involve the
International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2021
6 Texture and microstructure modulate saltiness X. Wang et al.
inter- and intra-molecular interactions including
hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interaction. The
addition of HAG, CG and XG shifted the peak from
3350 cm 1 (control) to 3347, 3299 and 3299 cm 1,
which was due to the formation of intermolecular
hydrogen bonds between these polysaccharides and
protein. Furthermore, the reduction of wavenumbers
also demonstrated that HAG, CG, and XG increased
the hydrophobic interaction between protein molecules
(Chen et al. 2021). Among them, XG caused the for-
mation of larger aggregates of myofibrillar proteins,
which was confirmed by the myosin heavy chain band
(MHC, ~ 204 KDa) with the lowest intensity (Fig-
ure S2). Therefore, the sausage with XG exhibited a
relatively poorer texture and microstructure. Neverthe-
less, LBG shifted the peak to a higher wavenumber
(3375 cm 1), which further demonstrated that LBG as
fillers were filled into the protein network due to its
uncharged nature (Figs 1 and 2).
International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2021
Figure 3 Fourier transform infrared
spectra of surimi emulsified sausages with
different polysaccharides.
The band located in the ranges of 1600–1700 cm 1
and 1500–1600 cm 1 was attributed to Amide Ⅰ (C=O
stretching vibration) and Amide Ⅱ (N–H bending and
C–N stretching). Amide Ⅰ are divided into b-sheet
(1600–1640 cm 1), random coil (1640–1650 cm 1),
a-helix (1650–1660 cm 1) and b-turn (1660–
1
1700 cm ). a-helices located in the N- and C-terminal
domains, whereas b-turns and b-sheets located in the
central repetitive domain, where hydrophobic amino
acids, such as proline and tryptophan, could be
founded and form hydrophobic interactions (Zhu
et al. 2017). The addition of CG induced a shift of
Amide Ⅰ and Amide Ⅱ from 1655 to 1542 cm 1 and
1546 to 1534 cm 1, indicating an enhanced hydropho-
bic interaction caused by CG (Thongkaew et al. 2014;
Zhu et al. 2017). Furthermore, the peak at 500–
600 cm 1 was the typical characteristic peak of disul-
phide bonds (Zhu et al. 2017). Obviously, sausages
with HAG and CG showed lower wavenumbers of 526
© 2021 Institute of Food Science and Technology

and 527 cm 1 compared to control and the sausages
containing LBG and XG, which showed that HAG
and CG promoted the formation of disulphide bonds.
The result was parallel with the texture properties and
microstructure.
Dynamic salt release during compression
Conductivity changes could be used to estimate salt
concentration in saliva during chewing (Kuo & Lee,
2014b; Benjamin et al. 2018). Figure 4 showed the
changes in conductivity and related dynamic release
parameters of surimi emulsified sausages with different
polysaccharides within 120 s after compression, using a
texture analyser to simulate the oral compression pro-
cess. In the first 25 s of compression, the conductivity
increased slightly. But in the next 35 s, the conductivity
increased dramatically, except for the sausage with XG.
Tian & Fisk (2012) reported that the conductivity of
potato chips reached a maximum in 25–30 s after chew-
ing. In our present study, the compression process
lasted about 25 s and the subsequent time could be con-
sidered as chewing time. At the initial stage of compres-
sion, the matrix was not destroyed and serum was
released less. However, at the end of the compression, a
breakdown of the matrix occurred and a large amount
of serum was released into the external bulk phase.
Therefore, the conductivity had a slight increase firstly
and a following sharp increase for all samples. Similar
trends were also observed by Kuo & Lee (2014b).
Figure 4 Dynamic release of salt during
120 s for surimi emulsified sausages with
different polysaccharides. Imax – maxi-
mum conductivity, AUC – area under
the curve, Rmax – maximum rate of salt
release.
© 2021 Institute of Food Science and Technology
Texture and microstructure modulate saltiness X. Wang et al. 7
As illustrated in Fig. 4, Rmax was obtained in a per-
iod of 30–60 s. Control had the highest Rmax value of
21.35 lS cm
s 1, followed by the sausage containing
CG (18.53 lS cm
s 1), which were much higher than
those of sausages with LBG (15.03 lS cm
s 1), HAG
(9.49 lS cm
s 1) and XG (7.02 lS cm
s 1). However,
the conductivity values of all samples increased as time
increased up to 120 s. Interestingly, the conductivity of
CG sausage increased continuously from 69 s, while
those of other samples increased steadily. Therefore,
the sausage containing CG exhibited the highest Imax
of 484 lS cm 1 and AUC of 29 713.86 lS
s cm 1, fol-
lowed by LBG, control, HAG and XG sausages. The
difference in Rmax, Imax and AUC was related to the
fracture performance and the microstructure (Kuo &
Lee, 2014b; Kuo & Lee, 2017; Benjamin et al. 2018).
In terms of fracture performance, sausages with CG,
LBG and XG have the potential to release more salt
into external bulk water (Table 1). Among them, sau-
sages with CG and LBG exhibited a porous microstruc-
ture, which was beneficial to the release of salt (Fig. 1a).
Particularly, CG formed an independent network and
interweaved with the protein network, resulting in an
interpenetrating network. The interpenetrating network
of the sausage with CG was conducive to salt diffusion,
while LBG acted as fillers to fill in the protein network
and thus formed physical barriers, causing the tortuos-
ity of salt diffusion (Kuo & Lee, 2014a). Moreover, the
LF-NMR results (Figure S3) also provided further evi-
dence that CG with higher water mobility could
International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2021
8 Texture and microstructure modulate saltiness X. Wang et al.

Table 2 Sensory analysis of surimi emulsified sausages with different polysaccharides.

Hardness† Brittleness† Elasticity† Adhesiveness† Colour† Aroma† Overall acceptability† Salty intensity‡

Control 8.2  0.5a 7.8  0.7b 8.0  0.8a 8.3  0.5a 8.1  1.0a 5.8  0.8a 8.0  0.9a 5b
High acyl gellan (HAG) 7.4  0.7b 7.3  1.1b 8.0  0.8a 7.3  1.2b 7.9  0.8a 5.8  0.9a 7.3  1.2b 4.5  0.6c
j-carrageenan (CG) 8.5  0.5a 8.5  0.5a 7.7  0.9a 8.0  0.9ab 8.2  0.7a 6.1  0.7a 8.6  0.6a 6.0  0.8a
Locust bean gum (LBG) 8.3  0.6a 5.2  0.8c 8.0  0.8a 5.4  1.1c 7.9  0.8a 5.7  0.8a 6.0  0.8c 4.9  0.8bc
Xanthan gum (XG) 4.9  0.9c 5.1  0.7c 7.0  0.8b 5.2  1.1c 7.7  0.9a 6.0  0.9a 4.8  0.7d 4.0  0.9d

Values in the same column with different superscript letters are significantly different (P < 0.05).
†
The texture (brittleness, hardness, elasticity), colour, aroma and overall acceptability were evaluated by a 9-point hedonic scale.
‡
Salty intensity was evaluated by a 9-cm unstructured scale with control as the reference sample.

facilitate salt diffusion and ultimately induce more salt
to be released (Wang et al. 2021).
Sensory analysis
A 9-point hedonic scale was used to evaluate the tex-
ture (hardness brittleness, elasticity and adhesiveness),
colour, aroma and overall acceptability of all samples
with different polysaccharides. In Table 2, the hard-
ness scores of sausages with HAG and XG were signif-
icantly lower than that of CG, control and LBG
sausages. This is because the sausage with HAG was
perceived as too hard, whereas the sausage containing
XG was too soft, resulting in a decrease in preference.
Furthermore, the sausage containing XG showed the
lowest elasticity compared to other samples. These
outcomes were parallel with the instrumental hardness
and springiness in TPA analysis (Table S1). In terms
of sensory brittleness, the liking of the sausage with
CG was higher than that of control and the sausage
with HAG, which was consistent with the lower frac-
ture strain obtained by uniaxial compression measure-
ment (Table 1). However, the preference of sausages
containing LBG and XG for brittleness was the lowest
due to the soft texture and perceived higher adhesive-
ness with the lowest liking scores of 5.4 and 5.2, which
were confirmed by TPA results (Table S1) and the
higher tan d in rheology analysis (Figure S1). Compar-
ing all samples, no significant differences were found
in the preference of colour and aroma. Therefore, the
overall acceptability of control and the sausage with
CG was the highest, followed by sausages containing
HAG, LBG and XG.
The salty intensity was assessed using a 9-cm
unstructured scale. As shown in Table 2, the sausage
with CG showed the highest score of salty intensity,
which was significantly higher than those of HAG,
control, LBG and XG sausages, and in parallel with
the results of salt release (Fig. 4). The enhanced salti-
ness perception of the sausage with CG may be related
to the partially brittle texture, porous and interpene-
trating microstructure. Despite the sausages with XG
and LBG had lower fracture strain, the perceived salty
intensity was still lower, which may be related to the
inhibition of saltiness caused by the sticky mouthfeel
(Cook et al. 2002).
Conclusions
The current study provided insights into engineering
surimi emulsified sausages with different texture attri-
butes and microstructure using four polysaccharides.
The texture differences in sausages with four polysac-
charides were related to the changes in microstructure,
which was induced by the difference of intermolecular
interaction between polysaccharides and proteins. The
highest salt release and saltiness perception of CG-
based sausage were ascribable to the lower fracture
stain and the interpenetrating porous network struc-
ture. Furthermore, the saltiness perception of the sau-
sages with LBG and XG was suppressed by the sticky
mouthfeel. Therefore, the products with partially brit-
tle, porous, and interpenetrating structure could be
used for salt reduction in food production.
Acknowledgments
The authors greatly appreciate the joint support for
study by projects of the National key R & D pro-
gramme (2016YFD0400801), National First-class Dis-
cipline of Food Science and Technology
(JUFSTR20180204) and programme of ‘Collaborative
innovation centre of food safety and quality control in
Jiangsu Province’. We also thank Miss Yulan Lai from
Lotun science Co., Ltd for the support of texture
experiments.
Author contribution
Xuejiao Wang: Data curation (lead); Investigation
(lead); Methodology (lead); Writing-original draft
(lead). Ting-Ting Feng: Formal analysis (equal); Writ-
ing-review & editing (equal). Shuqin Xia: Conceptual-
ization (supporting); Funding acquisition (supporting);
Supervision (supporting); Writing-review & editing
(supporting).

International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2021 © 2021 Institute of Food Science and Technology

Conflict of interest
There are no conflicts of interest to declare.
Ethical guidelines
Ethics approval was not required for this research.
Peer review
The peer review history for this article is available at
https://publons.com/publon/10.1111/ijfs.15006.
Data Availability Statement
Research data are not shared.
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Supporting Information
Additional Supporting Information may be found in
the online version of this article:
Figure S1. Changes of (A) storage modulus (G’) and
(B) tan d during temperature sweep of surimi batters
containing different polysaccharides
Figure S2. SDS-PAGE patterns of surimi proteins
at (A) non-reductive and (B) reductive conditions. M-
molecular weight standard.
Figure S3. The relaxation time of immobilized water
(T21) in surimi emulsified sausages with different
polysaccharides
Table S1. TPA parameters for surimi emulsified sau-
sages with different polysaccharides
Appendix S1. Materials and methods.
© 2021 Institute of Food Science and Technology