Effect of the Addition of Brewers’ Spent Grain (BSG) on the Physicochemical and Consumer Liking Attributes of Croatian Indigenous Cooked Sausage “Bijela Krvavica”

This research aimed to investigate the effect of the addition of wet brewers’ spent grains (BSG) on the microbiological safety, and physicochemical and sensory attributes of “bijela krvavica” during seven-day storage at 4 °C. The addition of BSG to the samples of “bijela krvavica” statistically significantly (p < 0.05) affected the mass share of proteins and fat and increased the mass share of water. Increasing the mass share of BSG in “bijela krvavica” did not have a statistically significant (p < 0.05) effect on the mass share of collagen, or on the pH value and aw. Instrumentally determined lightness (L*), redness (a*), and yellowness (b*) showed a decrease with the increase in mass share of wet BSG. Texture profile analysis (TPA) parameters hardness and chewiness also showed a decrease with the increase in BSG share (w = 0–9%) with statistical significance (p < 0.05). The overall liking of “bijela krvavica” samples showed the highest scores for the control sample, while 3% added BSG was rated as second best with no significant difference (p < 0.05). According to the consumer-generated sensory attributes (CATA) scoring, samples with 6 and 9% addition of BSG were described with attributes considered undesirable for meat products, such as “wheaty”, “pale color”, and “poor mouthfeel”. Also, the LogCFUg−1 of enterobacteria, sulfite-reducing clostridia, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella spp., and Listeria monocytogenes were not affected. The data obtained in this research indicate the possibility of producing safe “bijela krvavica” sausages with wet brewers’ spent grains without major changes in the physicochemical and sensory properties.