Abstract:Ferulic acid, a good natural plant extract, has many physiological functions and exhibits a wide range of therapeutic effects against various diseases, including cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. The study examined the effect of ferulic acid at different levels (0, 100, 300, 500 mg/kg) on histamine in smoked horse sausages using high performance liquid chromatography. Parameters such as microbiological growth, pH and moisture content were also evaluated. The results revealed that ferulic acid significantly reduced the numbers of Staphylococcus, Enterobacteriaceae and Pseudomonas compared to the control(P<0.05), but the inhibitory effects on Lactic acid bacteria were not significant (P>0.05). Moreover, ferulic acid suppressed the growth of histamine-producing bacteria based on traditional microbiological methods and PCR-DGGE analyses, and thus significantly reduced the accumulation of histamine(P<0.05). The content of histamine increased first, reaching a maximum after day 14, and then decreased. The treatment with 300 mg/kg ferulic acid gave the lowest content of histamine (30.71 mg/kg), which was reduced by 43.26% compared with the control after day 28. In conclusion, ferulic acid was an excellent additive which could inhibit histamine production remarkably and had a great application in food industry in fermented sausages.
