Physical and chemical characterization of African catfish smoked sausage with different liquid smoke concentrations and immersion durations

Product diversification is needed to increase selling and marketing prices. One of them is the African catfish sausage product. Liquid smoke has been used commercially by the food industry. This study aimed to determine the physical and chemical properties of smoked African catfish after adding different concentrations of liquid smoke and immersion duration. The chemical analysis measured the levels of protein, fat, and phenol. The results showed that sausage with a concentration of 20% liquid and soaking for 30 minutes was the best treatment with a protein content of 43.8 ± 0.34%, a fat of 12.33 ± 0.61%, and phenol 292.74 ppm. Determination of the compound using GC-MS found that the most dominant compound in the smokeless sausage was 2-hexanone, 3,3 dimethyl with a relative concentration of 32.42%. The dominant compound in the besttreated sausage was Furan, tetrahydro-2,2-dimethyl- with a relative concentration of 19%. Liquid smoke penetration is clearly visible in the microstructure of smoked sausages, both in the best-treated smoked sausages and commercial sausages. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) magnification of 2.500x shows that the best emulsified smoked sausages have a flatter structure, smaller droplets, and are more refined than smokeless sausages or commercial smoked sausages