Feasibility of X-ray microcomputed tomography for microstructure analysis and its relationship with hardness in non-acid lean fermented sausages

X-ray microcomputed tomography (μCT) was used for microstructure analysis on four different types of non-acid pork lean fermented sausages, three of them supplemented with 5% pork back fat, sunflower oil or diacylglycerols (DAGs). The data from the μCT analysis were related to instrumental texture (hardness). Although μCT analysis identified fat particles and air holes, the technique was not accurate enough to distinguish between pork lean and fat when these constituents were emulsified. Only μCT geometrical parameters related to the meat matrix (emulsion of pork lean and fat) provided useful information on the microstructure of the product. Parameters such as percent object volume (POV), object surface/volume ratio (OSVR), degree of anisotropy (DA), structure thickness (ST) and number of objects (NO) were correlated with instrumental hardness.