Mitigating Quality Deterioration of Reduced-Fat Pork Sausages During Cold Storage via Resistant Starch Incorporation: Gel Properties and Protein Conformation Study

This study investigated the changes in pH, water retention, color, texture characteristics, protein conformation, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARSs), total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), and total plate count in reduced-fat sausages. It explored the quality differences between sausages with and without the addition of resistant starch during storage at 4 °C over a period of 1 to 30 days. The results indicated that TBARS and TVB-N values significantly increased (p < 0.05) with the extension of refrigeration time, and the α-helix and β-sheet structures were transformed into β-turn and random coil structures, leading to a significant decrease in the pH, L* and a* values, texture characteristics, and chewiness of all sausages, as well as a significant increase in storage loss and centrifugation loss. Under the same refrigeration time, the sausage with added resistant starch exhibited better water retention and texture characteristics compared to the treatment without resistant starch. Additionally, the TBARS and TVB-N values were significantly lower (p < 0.05) in the former. Therefore, the incorporation of resistant starch can effectively slow down the deterioration of gel properties and the increase in total bacterial count in reduced-fat sausages during refrigeration.