BACKGROUND This study aimed to investigate the effects of treatment temperatures (22, 78, 100 °C) on the antioxidant activity of 13 types of dried ground spices and herbs (black mustard, black pepper, blackberries, onion, cumin, galangal, lemon balm, lovage, marjoram, oregano, parsley, rosemary and watercress) through measurements of redox potential. Four different combinations of spices and herbs were created and applied to cooked pork sausages, then sensory evaluation was carried out. RESULTS The redox potential was temperature dependent. A temperature of 78 °C was chosen to produce the cooked pork sausages with the addition of the spice and herb combinations. The combinations were black mustard, onion, and cumin (at a 1:1:1 ratio); onion, marjoram, and parsley (at a 1:1:1 ratio); black pepper, lemon balm, and parsley (at a 1:2.35:1.65 ratio) and black pepper, cumin, and lovage (at a 1:2:2 ratio). In pork sausages cooked at 78 °C, the variants at 12 g kg−1 had a more intense aroma and taste than those at 6 g kg−1 spice and herb combinations, and received a superior sensory evaluation in total. CONCLUSIONS The most desirable treatment temperature possibly applied in food products was 78 °C as it gave the highest number of negative results in redox potential of water extracts. The addition of the tested spice and herb combinations contributed to the increase of antioxidant possibility of 78 °C‐cooked pork sausages. Further investigation of the redox potential in other meat products (raw meat products at 22 °C, sausages from cooked meat at 100 °C) with the addition of the current spice and herb combinations will be undertaken in subsequent research. © 2020 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

Because nutrition based cardiovascular or gastrointestinal diseases, hypertension, diabetes and cancer are increasing in industrial and well developed countries, possibility’s to prevent these disorders or to relive the sequelaes are searched. One chance is the production of healthier or functional food. The use of medical plants with health promoting effects are known from traditional medicine, but until know they weren’t used in health enhancing amounts in foods, especially in processed meat products. The main objectives of the development were the identification of medical plants with a scientifically proven preventive effect against gastrointestinal diseases and the combination of them in an effective quantity for the use in emulsion-type sausages. Simultaneously, the combination with all known health promoting measures like fat or salt reduction or the use of plant additives is intended. Finally, 4 cooked sausages recipes with medical plant combinations were developed and remarkable new sensorial properties in terms of appearance, odour and taste were created. As an additional result, the nutritionally value of the sausages was increased by reducing sodium about 25 % by the use of replacer Pansalz® and by increasing the meat protein amount, which is free from connective tissue protein, from 80 to 90 % by the substitution of animal fat with vegetable oil, also in 100 % exchange of pork meat for turkey meat. Therefore, the fat content in the sausages was reduced from 30 to 20 %. The developed sausage recipes are applied in practice. Several consumers’ preference tests have shown a great products popularity. Practical applications: Based on a pool of 13 different medical plants with a scientifically proven preventive effect (with a positive monography) against gastrointestinal diseases, 4 sausages recipes with medical plant combinations were developed stepwise and the necessary overall recommended daily intake (RDI) was calculated per 100 g sausages. Traditional spices weren’t used. The biggest challenges were to ensure the proven preventive effect of the plants as well the sensorial acceptance of the cooked sausages. In addition, the changes of meat batter properties by reducing the sodium and fat content, also the use of oil and poultry meat had to be observed.