The storage stability and textural, physico-chemical and sensory quality of low-fat ground pork patties with Carrageenan as fat replacer

Low-fat ground pork patties ((less than)10% total fat) made with carrageenan added at either 0.25, 0.50 or 0.75% final concentration were processed and the compositional and sensory characteristics compared with control patties which contained 20% fat. The moisture content of raw and cooked low-fat patties was significantly (P (less than) 0.05) higher than control patties because of greater amounts of water added during formulation. Cooking yield, fat and moisture retention also improved significantly (P (less than) 0.05) in low-fat patties that had carrageenan incorporated when compared to a control product. The dimensions of the low-fat patties were maintained better than those of the control product during cooking. The sensory attributes of low-fat patties with 0.5% carrageenan were similar to those of the high-fat control. The lipid profile revealed as much as a 47.7 or 44.1% decrease in total lipids and cholesterol content respectively, compared with the controls. The calorie content was reduced by 31.1% in low-fat cooked patties compared with the controls. The texture profile of low-fat patties that had been made with 0.5% carrageenan were similar to control patties with only a slight increase in hardness and gumminess in the low-fat product. The low-fat ground pork patties made in the present study remained stable without any appreciable loss of physico-chemical, microbiological and organoleptic quality during refrigerated storage (4 (plus_minus) 1 ° C) for 21 and 35 days in aerobic and vacuum packaging respectively.