High-pressure processing enhances saltiness perception and sensory acceptability of raw but not of cooked cured pork loins - leveraging salty and umami taste

Abstract:
The salt (NaCl) content in processed meats must be reduced because of its adverse effects on cardiovascular health. However, reducing salt in meat products typically leads to a lower taste intensity and, thus, consumer acceptability. Industry interventions must reduce salt content while maintaining taste, quality, and consumer acceptability. In this context, high-pressure processing (HPP) has been proposed to enhance saltiness perception, though there are contradictory reports to date. The present work aimed to conduct a targeted experiment to ascertain the influence of HPP (300/600 MPa) and cooking (71°C) on saltiness perception and sensory acceptability of meat products. HPP treatment (300/600 MPa) did enhance those two sensory attributes (approx. +1 on a 9-point hedonic scale) in raw (uncooked) cured pork loins but did not in their cooked counterparts. Further, the partition coefficient of sodium (P_Na+), as an estimate of Na⁺ binding strength to the meat matrix, and the content of umami-taste nucleotides were investigated as potential causes. No effect of cooking (71°C) and HPP (300/600 MPa) could be observed on the P_Na+ at equilibrium. However, HPP treatment at 300 MPa increased the inosine-5′-monophosphate (IMP) content in raw cured pork loins. Finally, hypothetical HPP effects on taste-mediating molecular mechanisms are outlined and discussed in light of boosting the sensory perception of raw meat products as a strategy to achieve effective salt reductions while keeping consumer acceptability.