Changes in sensory properties of Galician chorizo sausage preserved by freezing, oil-immersion and vacuum-packing

Galician chorizo sausage, a dry-cured meat product from northwest Spain, was conserved by different methods with the aim of increasing its useful life. We studied changes in the sensory properties of this dry-cured meat product conserved by freezing, vacuum-packing and a traditional method involving immersion in sunflower oil. The reasons for the elimination of the samples conserved in sunflower oil at sampling 13 (week 23) was an increase in rancid flavor, acid flavor and external odor intensity. In sampling 18 (week 41) the samples conserved by vacuum-packing were eliminated because of increases in acid flavor, external and internal odor intensity, flavor intensity and after-taste persistence. In the frozen sausages the changes in sensory properties happened very slowly during storage.