Effect of Amaranthus Pigments on Quality Characteristics of Pork Sausages

The objective of this investigation was to evaluate the possibility of substituting Amaranthus pigments for nitrates in the of manufacture pork sausage. Five treatments of pork sausages (5% fat) with two levels of sodium nitrite (0 and 0.015%), or three levels (0.1%, 0.2% and 0.3%) of pigments extracted from red Amaranthus were produced. The addition of Amaranthus pigments resulted in the significant increase of a* values, sensory color, flavor and overall acceptance scores, but the significant reduction of b* values, TBA values and VBN values (p<0.05). Based mainly on the results of overall acceptance during 29 d storage, it could be concluded that Amaranthus pigments showed a potential as nitrite alternative for pork sausage manufacture.