Abstract: The shelf-life of low-sodium pork sausages was predicted with accelerated shelf-life test model and pathogenic bacteria were detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in this study. Meanwhile, the change trends of texture (tenderness) were also explored during storage. The results showed that the shelf-life of four kinds of pork sausages with the addition of 3% common iodine salt and 0.3% sodium tripolyphosphate (control group), the addition of 2.5% low-sodium salt and 0.35% TG, the addition of 2.0% low-sodium salt and 0.3% sodium tripolyphosphate, and the addition of 3% multi-component salt substitute (consisting of 40% NaCl, 35% KCl, 15% CaCl2, and 10% aminoacetic acid) and 0.35% TG were 17.5, 17.6, 16.9 days and 15.7 days at room temperature (25 ℃), and 189, 208, 142 days and 146 days at 4 ℃, respectively. No pathogenic bacteria were detected after 1 month of storage at 4 ℃. The tenderness of all groups exhibited an initial increase and final decrease during 90 days storage at 4 ℃. Moreover, pork sausages with the addition of 2.5% low-sodium salt and 0.35% TG had the best storage stability.

Key words: pork ham sausages, low-sodium salt, transglutaminase (TG), accelerated shelf-life test model, shelf-life, polymerase chain reaction (PCR)