## 3 Results
### Chemical Composition and Physicochemical Properties of Fermented Loins
A higher amount of nitrate was noted ranging from \(<\)10 mg kg\({}^{-1}\) for the sample \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline \hline  & & \multicolumn{5}{c}{**Storage Time [Month]**} \\ \cline{3-6}  & & **0** & **1** & **4** & **6** \\ \hline \multirow{5}{*}{L*} & FL0 & 51.51 \(\pm\) 4.07 \({}^{\rm a,A}\) & 51.42 \(\pm\) 1.62 \({}^{\rm a,A}\) & 43.86 \(\pm\) 5.53 \({}^{\rm a,B}\) & 40.58 \(\pm\) 1.22 \({}^{\rm a,B}\) \\ \cline{2-6}  & FL50 & 47.14 \(\pm\) 2.40 \({}^{\rm a,A}\) & 43.89 \(\pm\) 4.35 \({}^{\rm b,B}\) & 40.66 \(\pm\) 3.19 \({}^{\rm a,C}\) & 37.62 \(\pm\) 1.39 \({}^{\rm a,C}\) \\ \cline{2-6}  & FL100 & 45.84 \(\pm\) 2.75 \({}^{\rm b,A}\) & 41.60 \(\pm\) 4.58 \({}^{\rm b,A}\) & 43.99 \(\pm\) 2.64 \({}^{\rm a,A}\) & 40.74 \(\pm\) 1.16 \({}^{\rm a,A}\) \\ \cline{2-6}  & FL150 & 42.48 \(\pm\) 2.56 \({}^{\rm b,A}\) & 51.14 \(\pm\) 4.75 \({}^{\rm a,B}\) & 44.38 \(\pm\) 2.90 \({}^{\rm a,A}\) & 41.31 \(\pm\) 0.93 \({}^{\rm a,A}\) \\ \hline \multirow{5}{*}{a*} & FL0 & 2.20 \(\pm\) 0.93 \({}^{\rm a,A}\) & 4.19 \(\pm\) 0.59 \({}^{\rm a,B}\) & 4.89 \(\pm\) 1.18 \({}^{\rm a,B}\) & 4.72 \(\pm\) 0.68 \({}^{\rm a,B}\) \\ \cline{2-6}  & FL50 & 6.30 \(\pm\) 0.57 \({}^{\rm b,A}\) & 8.25 \(\pm\) 0.98 \({}^{\rm b,B}\) & 7.43 \(\pm\) 0.47 \({}^{\rm b,B}\) & 8.05 \(\pm\) 0.83 \({}^{\rm b,B}\) \\ \cline{2-6}  & FL100 & 6.26 \(\pm\) 0.90 \({}^{\rm b,A}\) & 5.52 \(\pm\) 1.71 \({}^{\rm a,A}\) & 5.32 \(\pm\) 1.15 \({}^{\rm a,A}\) & 7.19 \(\pm\) 0.56 \({}^{\rm b,B}\) \\ \cline{2-6}  & FL150 & 4.94 \(\pm\) 0.76 \({}^{\rm b,A}\) & 5.80 \(\pm\) 1.06 \({}^{\rm a,A}\) & 6.96 \(\pm\) 1.28 \({}^{\rm b,B}\) & 5.85 \(\pm\) 1.10 \({}^{\rm b,A}\) \\ \hline \multirow{5}{*}{b*} & FL0 & 8.30 \(\pm\) 1.10 \({}^{\rm a,A}\) & 9.89 \(\pm\) 0.65 \({}^{\rm a,A}\) & 8.61 \(\pm\) 1.99 \({}^{\rm a,A}\) & 7.30 \(\pm\) 0.57 \({}^{\rm a,A}\) \\ \cline{2-6}  & FL50 & 7.22 \(\pm\) 0.87 \({}^{\rm a,A}\) & 8.43 \(\pm\) 1.27 \({}^{\rm a,A}\) & 8.09 \(\pm\) 0.85 \({}^{\rm a,A}\) & 7.93 \(\pm\) 0.72 \({}^{\rm a,A}\) \\ \cline{2-6}  & FL100 & 7.32 \(\pm\) 0.69 \({}^{\rm a,A}\) & 6.34 \(\pm\) 0.77 \({}^{\rm a,A}\) & 7.10 \(\pm\) 1.37 \({}^{\rm a,A}\) & 8.87 \(\pm\) 0.93 \({}^{\rm a,B}\) \\ \cline{2-6}  & FL150 & 5.83 \(\pm\) 1.08 \({}^{\rm a,A}\) & 9.24 \(\pm\) 1.46 \({}^{\rm a,B}\) & 8.40 \(\pm\) 0.89 \({}^{\rm a,B}\) & 7.66 \(\pm\) 1.07 \({}^{\rm a,B}\) \\ \hline \multirow{5}{*}{\(\Delta\)E} & FL0 & 14.77 \(\pm\) 1.69 \({}^{\rm a,C}\) & 2.54 \(\pm\) 0.44 \({}^{\rm a,A}\) & 7.68 \(\pm\) 1.04 \({}^{\rm b,B}\) & 3.53 \(\pm\) 0.98 \({}^{\rm a,A}\) \\ \cline{2-6}  & FL50 & 18.31 \(\pm\) 1.34 \({}^{\rm b,B}\) & 3.97 \(\pm\) 1.01 \({}^{\rm a,A}\) & 3.35 \(\pm\) 0.23 \({}^{\rm a,A}\) & 3.11 \(\pm\) 1.00 \({}^{\rm a,A}\) \\ \cline{2-6}  & FL100 & 16.69 \(\pm\) 1.52 \({}^{\rm a,B}\) & 4.41 \(\pm\) 0.74 \({}^{\rm a,A}\) & 2.47 \(\pm\) 0.75 \({}^{\rm a,A}\) & 4.67 \(\pm\) 1.04 \({}^{\rm a,A}\) \\ \cline{2-6}  & FL150 & 23.28 \(\pm\) 2.04 \({}^{\rm c,C}\) & 9.75 \(\pm\) 0.94 \({}^{\rm b,B}\) & 6.85 \(\pm\) 1.09 \({}^{\rm b,B}\) & 3.34 \(\pm\) 0.84 \({}^{\rm a,A}\) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}  
* L*—lightness, a*—redness, b*—yellowness, AE—color difference. FL0 (sample without sodium nitrate addition); FL50 (sample with reduced amount of sodium nitrate to 50 mg kg\({}^{-1}\)); FL100 (sample with reduced amount of sodium nitrate to 100 mg kg\({}^{-1}\)); FL150 (sample with traditional amount of sodium nitrate 150 mg kg\({}^{-1}\)). \({}^{\rm A,C}\) means followed by the common letters within the storage time do not differ significantly (\(p\geq 0.05\)); \({}^{\rm a,C}\) means followed by the common letters within the formulations do not differ significantly (\(p\geq 0.05\)).  
\end{table} 
Table 6: CIE L* a* b* color parameters of fermented loins during storage (mean \(\pm\) standard deviation). with nitrate addition to 19.0 mg kg\({}^{-1}\) for the sample with the highest nitrate addition. With increasing levels of nitrate addition, higher nitrate residues were observed in fermented meat products.