Enrichment of nitrite in onion powder using atmospheric pressure plasma and egg whites for meat curing

Abstract This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of natural nitrite sources prepared by atmospheric pressure plasma (APP) treatment on onion and egg white mixtures to replace sodium nitrite in processed meat. Onions were treated with APP alone (PO) or in the presence of 30% egg whites (w/w, POE). Although PO also showed an increase in nitrite content, the addition of egg whites during APP treatment resulted in an increase of about 4 times nitrite content in POE compared to PO. To test the practical application of this technique, emulsion sausages were prepared by adding four different nitrite sources: no nitrite source (CON), sodium nitrite (SN), PO powder, and POE powder, then sausage properties were evaluated on a consumer scale. POE sausages showed a similar nitrite content and visual redness to the sausages with sodium nitrite and acquired onion-like odor and significantly reduced warmed-over flavor (WOF). Consequently, we concluded that nitrite-enriched onion powder by egg whites addition during APP treatment has the potential to effectively replace synthetic sodium nitrite in processed sausages without compromising product flavors.