Abstract
Optimally designed functional foods are considered the most important part of a balanced and healthy diet. Goat meat nuggets, an otherwise healthy option, are packed with undesirable saturated and unsaturated fats. The present work suggests an optimal functional formulation to reduce the surplus fat content of goat meat nuggets by adding two optimally calculated functional ingredients, namely, fenugreek leaves (FL) and psyllium husk (PH). Response surface optimization was performed to determine the optimal content of the functional ingredients (FL and PH), resulting in minimum fat content without affecting the overall acceptability (OA) and other properties representing the taste and texture (e.g., ash content, pH, crude fiber content, and moisture content) of the nuggets. Functional additives at optimum levels successfully reduced the fat content of the weight-conserved nuggets by almost 39% compared with the control nuggets. Minimal and acceptable effects were observed regarding OA and other properties representative of the taste and texture of the nuggets. An optimally designed, fat-attenuated goat meat nugget formulation is therefore prescribed, which complies with the nutritional standards of a balanced diet.
Highlights
Over the last few decades, people have begun to prefer healthy and convenient foods, such as ready-to-eat or precooked foods, due to busier lifestyles, leading to an effective change in eating habits
The main drawback of processed meat products is that they contain a high level of saturated fatty acids and cholesterol but no fiber, properties which are associated with several chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, various types of cancer, and obesity [6]
The variation in the fat content (%) of the goat meat nuggets was obtained from the quadratic response function (Equation (2)) of the content of goat meat and the two functional ingredients, i.e., fenugreek leaves and psyllium husk (Table 1)
Summary
Over the last few decades, people have begun to prefer healthy and convenient foods, such as ready-to-eat or precooked foods, due to busier lifestyles, leading to an effective change in eating habits. The consumption of meat and meat products is continuously increasing worldwide because of their ideal source of soluble minerals, vitamins, essential fats, amino acids, and many other nutrients with a specific function in the body. The consumption of meat leads to satiety, and meat is a nutritious and ready-to-eat, convenient food. Goat meat is a darker red in color than lamb and beef and has a coarser texture with a different flavor and aroma [3]. It is leaner than beef and lamb and contains less marbling and subcutaneous fat [4,5]. The main drawback of processed meat products is that they contain a high level of saturated fatty acids and cholesterol but no fiber, properties which are associated with several chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, various types of cancer, and obesity [6]
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