Nutritional and sensory properties of dry fermented sausages enriched with n-3 PUFAs

Enrichment of dry fermented sausages with n − 3 fatty acids through a partial substitution of pork backfat by deodorised fish oil resulted in improved nutritional properties with regard to conventional sausages, without affecting sensory properties and oxidation status. The developed products supplied 0.64 g EPA/100 g and 0.46 g DHA/100 g product, and showed PUFA + MUFA/SFA ratio of 1.76 and n − 6/n − 3 ratio of 2.97. No signs of oxidation were found in any type of sausages, control and modified. None of the dienals and trienals reported as secondary lipid oxidation products and typical for fish oil were detected in the modified sausages. Instrumental colour differences were detected, however, without relevance in the sensory analysis. The sensory evaluation panel did not find differences in general acceptability. The modified dry fermented sausages can be considered a technologically viable functional food.