Microbiology and physico-chemical changes of dry-cured ham during the post-salting stage as affected by partial replacement of NaCl by other salts

Abstract Dry-cured ham consumption is restricted by hypertensive consumers due to its high sodium content. This constitutes an important matter for this industry, being relevant due to the current trends in consumption. In order to prevent the problems related to the high sodium intake, one of the possibilities is the total or partial replacement of sodium by other ions, such as potassium, calcium and magnesium. The aim of this study was to characterise the post-salting stage in Spanish cured ham production with the results obtained after salting with low sodium salt content. The results showed that lower sodium hams needed more time of post-salting to reach similar water activity values than those achieved by hams salted with 100% NaCl. Nevertheless, no differences in microbial counts were observed among the studied batches, although a sharp decrease in microbiota was observed when the, post-salting time was prolonged in the lower sodium hams.