The use of high pressure processing to enhance the quality and shelf life of reduced sodium naturally cured restructured cooked hams

• Modified potassium chloride adversely affected most of the ham quality attributes.
• Celery powder in hams leads primarily to acceptable processing and sensory quality.
• Sodium reduction had no effect on shelf life of hams up to 12 weeks of storage.
• High hydrostatic pressure can extend shelf life of hams without effect on quality.

The combined effect of partial salt replacement with modified potassium chloride and high pressure processing (600 MPa for 3 min at 8 °C) on the quality and shelf life of naturally-cured restructured hams was investigated over a 12 week storage period. Instrumental, microbiological and consumer acceptability testing was performed.A partial salt substitution with modified potassium chloride adversely affected textural and water binding characteristics of hams and led to a decrease in the consumer acceptance compared to regular salt hams. Celery powder used as a curing agent had beneficial effects on water holding and moisture retention and improved bind of restructured hams; however the consumer acceptability of flavor and aftertaste received significantly lower scores compared to nitrite. No significant differences in all consumer acceptability parameters resulted for hams subjected to HPP compared to non-HPP for all storage periods indicating that HPP can effectively extend shelf-life of restructured ham without compromising eating quality.