The role of monoxide hemoglobin in color improvement of chicken sausage.

The role of monoxide hemoglobin (COHb) in improvement of chicken sausage color was investigated. COHb and NaNO2 synergistically increased a* values. Addition of 0.1% COHb decreased the residual nitrite content in the presence of 0.001% NaNO2. Compared with controls, the combined treatment resulted in significantly higher nitroso pigment contents while the single treatment resulted in slightly higher nitroso pigment contents. Visible spectrometry indicated that both nitrosohemochrome (NH) and hematin were the main ingredients of pigments extracted from chicken sausage treated with a combination of 0.006% NaNO2 and 0.6% COHb. Formation of NH and hematin caused an increase in a* values and a decrease in L* values, respectively. COHb showed potential for use in meat product formulations.