a b s t r a c tMeat industry needs to reduce salt in their products due to health issues. The present study evaluated the effect of salt reduction from 6% to 3% in two Portuguese traditional blood dry-cured sausages. Physicochemical and microbiological parameters, biogenic amines, fatty acids and texture profiles and sensory panel evaluations were considered. Differences due to salt reduction were perceptible in a faint decline of water activity, which slightly favoured microbial growth. Total biogenic amines content ranged from 88.86 to 796.68 mg kg À1 fresh matter, with higher amounts, particularly of cadaverine, histamine and tyramine, in low-salt products. Still, histamine and other vasoactive amines remained at low levels, thus not affecting consumers' health. Regarding fatty acids, no significant differences were observed due to salt. However, texture profile analysis revealed lower resilience and cohesiveness in low-salt products, although no textural changes were observed by the sensory panel. Nevertheless, low-salt sausages were clearly preferred by panellists.

a b s t r a c tPortuguese dry fermented sausages are traditionally processed through direct drying/smoking, making them susceptible to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) contamination. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of added fat (20% and 40%), casing type (hog and collagen) and smoking procedures (direct and indirect exposure) on the 16 EPA priority PAHs in dry fermented sausages manufactured according traditional processing. The total PAHs content (sum of 16 PAHs) found in whole product (casing included) varied between 150 and 870 lg kg À1 , with more than 99% of this content corresponding to harmless low molecular weight compounds. Concerning benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) and PAH4, the respective maximum contents (0.32 and 10.35 lg kg À1 , respectively) did not exceed the imposed limits regulated by the European Union. According to our results, casing type was the most influential factor. For hog samples, fat content and smoking regime alone did not influenced the total PAHs amount. However, significantly higher (p < 0.05) contamination levels were detected in hog casing samples combining high fat content and direct smoking procedures. In opposition, irrespective of the fat content and smoking regime, safer products, with significantly lower (p < 0.001) contamination levels, were obtained when collagen casing was used.

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