Excessive sodium (Na) intake has been associated with high blood pressure and cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, sodium reduction is a public health challenge worldwide. The aim of this study was to develop smoked salmon with a reduced Na content. Sodium chloride (NaCl) was replaced by potassium chloride (KCl) at 25% and 50% (molar replacement) and studied in combination with two smoking procedures (natural wood and liquid smoke) as well as two smoking temperatures (18-19ºC or 56ºC). Smoked salmon samples were characterized by physicochemical, sensory and microbiological analyses. No major differences were observed regarding physicochemical properties in the studied treatments. Smoked samples with 50% of NaCl replaced by KCl were slightly more bitter than those with 25% whereas samples with 25% of replacement did not show differences to those with non-reduced Na content (5 g of added NaCl per 100 g of salmon). Microbiological assessment indicates that 2-week shelf-life would be appropriate and safe in terms of accomplishment of the EU regulation, taking into account foreseeable storage temperatures (up to 8ºC). Thus, it is possible to achieve a reduction of 25-50% of NaCl in smoked salmon by replacing NaCl by KCl and considerer this product as a "source" of K.
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