Phosphate analysis of natural sausage casings preserved in brines with phosphate additives as inactivating agent – Method validation

Certain phosphates have been identified as suitable additives for the improvement of the microbial and
mechanical properties of processed natural sausage casings. When mixed with NaCl (sodium chloride)
and used under specific treatment and storage conditions, these phosphates are found to prevent the
spread of foot-and-mouth disease and classical swine fever via treated casings. The commercially available
QuantichromTM phosphate assay kit has been evaluated as to whether it can serve as a reliable and
low-tech method for routine analysis of casings treated with phosphate. The outcome of this study indicates
that this particular assay kit has sufficient sensitivity to qualitatively determine the presence of
phosphate in treated casings without interference of naturally occurring phosphate in salt used for brines
in which casings are preserved.