Quantitative analysis of pork dry-cured sausages to quality control by NIR spectroscopy

Near infrared spectroscopy technology (diode array instrument) was used to study the feasibility of applying quality controls to typical Spanish sausages by performing a proximate analysis (fat, moisture and protein) on the finished product (intact and homogenized). This could be used to provide quality controls at various stages once the finished product was obtained: finished product, storage, distribution and marketing. The selected models were calibrated and evaluated by cross and external validation. For intact products, coefficients of determination for calibration (R2) for fat, moisture and protein were 0.98, 0.93 and 0.97, respectively. These values for homogenised products were 0.99, 0.98 and 0.97, respectively. The standard errors of prediction (SEP) for external validation in intact products were 1.47%, 0.97% and 1.08% for fat, moisture and protein, respectively. In homogenised products, these values were lower: 0.71%, 0.41% and 0.95%, respectively.