The objective of this research was to characterize the effects of preblending time on the textural properties of fine and coarse ground sausages. The effects of preblending time on coarse ground sausage texture was investigated in two studies. Raw materials (pork, beef) were preblended with salt, nitrite and water, held at 0-2(DEGREES)C for 0, 4, 8, 12, 24, 48 hr (study I) or 0, 4, 8, 12, 16 hr and 48, 96, 144, 196 or 240 hr (study II) and manufactured into polish sausages (rep = 2/study). Treatments were scheduled for simultaneous thermal processing. Means for product traits peaked between 8 and 12 hr and then decreased (study I). In study II, expressible moisture (EM), raw batter stability, processing yield (PY), Instron compression (CO) and protein solubilization increased from 0-16 hr. No differences were observed for EM, PY and CO and in SEM micrographs for the 48-240 hr interval. The effects of preblending on textural properties occur rapidly (0-16 hr), reach a maximum and either remain constant or diminish as preblending time increases (48-240 hr) for coarse ground sausages. The influence of preblending time on the textural characteristics of fine ground sausages was investigated by preblending raw materials (pork, beef) with salt, nitrite and water, holding at 0-2(DEGREES)C for 0, 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 48 or 72 hrs and subsequently manufacturing into frankfurters (rep = 3). The pork preblends decreased in expressible moisture in both the short and long term preblending periods (P \u3c 0.05). Preblend extrusion bind generally increased as preblending time increased. Raw batter stability, processing yield and consumer cook shrinkage was not influenced (P \u3e 0.05) by preblending time. Preblending time diminished the color values for the frankfurthers from 0-24 hr (P \u3c 0.05), and maintained this decrease in extended preblending times (P \u3e 0.05). The textural parameters (Kramer shear, compression) were not significantly influenced (P \u3e 0.05) by preblending time. The increased protein interactions and bind found in raw material preblends were lost during frankfurter processing. This research indicates that preblending does not improve the textural properties of fine ground sausages and only increases the textural response for coarse ground sausages when preblending time is short (0-16 hr)
