Understanding the effect of different chloride salts on the water behavior in the salted meat matrix along 180 days of shelf life.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of different chloride salts (NaCl, KCl, and CaCl) on water behavior in salted meat during 180 days of shelf life by Low Field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and physicochemical analysis. Four salted meat treatments were made using the following salts in the wet and dry salting steps: FC1: 100% NaCl; F1: 50% NaCl +50% KCl; F2: 50% NaCl +50% CaCl; F3: 50% NaCl +25% KCl + 25% CaCl. The analyses performed were: moisture, pH, aw, weight loss and Low Field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. The use of CaCl as a salt substitute to NaCl during the elaboration of salted meat caused a decrease of pH and higher values of aw and weight loss when compared with the treatments containing only NaCl or NaCl + KCl. The morphology of the salted meat changed with the addition of CaCl, possibly making the matrix structure more open and facilitating dehydration, whereas the NaCl replacement by KCl did not cause significant modifications in salted meat characteristics during 180 days of storage. In general, the results demonstrated that the addition of KCl may be a good alternative to reduce the sodium content in salted meat product, and the Low Field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance method has proved a good tool for obtaining additional information on the changes that salts can cause in the structure of salted meat products.