Determination of the Sodium Chloride Content of Sausages by near Infrared Spectroscopy

Abstract

Near infrared (NIR) reflectance and transmittance spectroscopy were studied as potential methods for determination of the sodium chloride (NaCl) content of sausages. Fifty-seven batches of sausages with varying chemical composition were produced. The NaCl content of the sausages varied between 1.4 and 2.2%. NIR reflectance and transmittance analyses were performed on both the sausage-mixes and the sausages. Comparable accuracy was achieved when performing the NIR analysis of either the sausage-mixes or the sausages. The NIR reflectance and transmittance methods were able to determine the NaCl content of the sausages with prediction errors of 0.04% and 0.07%, respectively. This suggests that both methods could be utilised for prediction of the NaCl content, in addition to the main chemical components of the sausages.