Chia (Salvia hispanica L.) products as ingredients for reformulating frankfurters: Effects on quality properties and shelf-life.

Several strategies were examined for incorporating chia products (seeds, flour and a coproduct from cold-press oil extraction) in frankfurters. The nutritional composition, technological properties and sensory attributes of the resulting products were studied in relation to the formulation used and, lipid oxidation, pH, residual nitrite level and microbiological properties were evaluated during chilled storage. Application of these chia products (3%) was seen to enhance the nutritional composition of frankfurters, without adversely affecting the technological properties of the final product. In general, although differences were detected in the sensory attributes of the frankfurters reformulated with chia products (most of them when chia coproduct was added), all of them were judged acceptable. Besides the quality aspects, these reformulation strategies had beneficial effects on some technological properties during chilled storage: better resistance to oxidation (controlling the TBARS increase during storage) and lower residual nitrite levels than control (both effects presumably because the chia polyphenols content) and no effect on microbiological safety.