Microbiological, physicochemical and structural characteristics of natural salted casings treated with antibacterial agents

Summary This study aimed to investigate the effects of antibacterial agent ultrasonic immersion on the quality of salted casings in terms of microorganism, physicochemical characters and structure characteristics. The results showed that citric acid immersion had the most significant effect as compared to that of control samples, with a reduction of 1.00, 1.65 and 1.66 log CFU g−1 in Staphylococcus, Halophile and Psychrophiles compared to control samples respectively. Citric acid and tea polyphenol treatment increased the elongation at break of casings by 11.3% and 10.4%, and the most significant increase in the tensile strength of samples with chitosan oligosaccharide was 13.7%. Meanwhile, all samples were not discriminative in colour, collagen solubility, water solubility, thermal swelling and thermal shrinking rate. Furthermore, a compact and dense casing surfaces found by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images after antibacterial agent treatment. Therefore, antibacterial agent immersion has the potential to control microorganisms’ growth, improve mechanical properties and extend the application field of salted casings. Effects of antibacterial agents on the characteristics of natural salted casings.