ABSTRACT
For several years, Americans have been advised to choose leaner (meats) and lower fat foods as these are perceived, at least by many, to be “better for you” than many traditional foods that contain higher levels of fat. Emulsion-type sausage products (e.g., bologna, frankfurters) have been very popular meat items in America, and in many other countries, and have traditionally contained relatively high levels of fat. For example, USDA regulations for many years have allowed these types of products to contain up to 30% fat. Until the recent (12) mandated use of the Nutrition Facts label, it was not evident to most consumers that these products contained fat. This is because the fat was not visible to the naked eye: it was the dispersed phase (fat droplets) in a complex continuous phase composed of water, solubilized proteins, cellular components, and miscellaneous spices and seasonings (60). These finely comminuted sausage batters are commonly called emulsions, although by strict definition they are not true emulsions. A true emulsion is a heterogeneous mixture of two immiscible liquids, stabilized by an emulsifying material, such as protein. Meat bat-
ters, or emulsions, may be more properly called a three-phase dispersion (solid, liquid, and [gas] air). Because of the common usage of the term “emulsion sausage” in the literature and by industry personnel, the word emulsion will be used throughout this chapter as if it were technically correct, and to differentiate these products from sausages that have obvious particle definition and are commonly referred to as coarse ground, such as fresh pork sausage or cured smoked sausage.
