941 ± 0.008). The mortadella-type sausages were made in a pilot plant in the Products of Animal Origin Laboratory at the Federal University of Lavras (Brazil). Lean beef, salt, phosphate and NaNO2 were placed in a cutter (Sire, Filizola S.A., Brazil)

and mixed for approximately 1 min. Fifty percent of the ice and spices were then added and mixed at a high speed. After complete homogenization, the speed of the cutter was reduced. Ground pork backfat was then added and mixed until the temperature of the mixture reached 10 °C. The remaining 50% of the ice, cassava starch, ascorbic acid and EO were added and mixed until the temperature of the mixture reached 13 °C. The total emulsification time was approximately 10 min, and the processing room temperature was approximately 20 °C. The batters were stuffed into nylon

click here bags (Unipac Darlon, Brazil, 50 μm thickness) and were cooked by immersion in water using the following program: 55 °C for 30 min, 65 °C for 30 min, 75 °C for 30 min, and 85 °C until the temperature of the product reached 73 °C (measured by a thermometer inserted into the center of the packed sausage batter). The cooked sausage was cooled in a water bath for 10 min and stored in a controlled chamber (Thermostat cabinets LS Logen Scientific) at 25 °C before analysis at 1, 10, 20 and 30 days. Color measurements were taken with a colorimeter CAL-101 clinical trial (Chroma Meters CR-300, Konica Minolta Sensing Inc.) established at a 10° angle for the observer and illuminated at D65 to calculate color indices in the CIELAB system, following the recommendations of Ramos and Gomide (2007). The color parameters lightness (L*), redness Methisazone (a*) and yellowness (b*) were obtained from an average of six readings taken at different points in slices approximately 40 mm wide. The a* and b* coordinates were transformed

to polar coordinates: (h*) hue = tan−1(b*/a*) and (C*) chroma = (a*2 + b*2)1/2. Antioxidant activity of the S. montana L. essential oil was determined using β-carotene bleaching test ( Lopes-Lutz, Alviano, Alviano, & Kolodziejczyk, 2008). As a reference the antioxidant activity of the Timol (essential oil major compound) was assessed. Approximately 10 mg of β-carotene (Sigma–Aldrich) was dissolved in 10 ml chloroform. The carotene–chloroform solution, 0.2 ml, was pipetted into a boiling flask containing 20 mg linoleic acid (Sigma–Aldrich) and 200 mg Tween 40 (Sigma–Aldrich). Chloroform was removed using a rotary evaporator (RE-52AA) at 40 °C for 5 min, and to the residue, 50 ml of distilled water was added, slowly with vigorous agitation, to form an emulsion. The emulsion (5 ml) was added to a tube containing 0.2 ml of the samples solution and the absorbance was immediately measured at 470 nm against a blank, consisting of an emulsion without β-carotene.