Whey Powder, ι-Carrageenan, and Fat Interactions and Their Influence on Instrumental Texture and Sensory Properties of Turkey Meat Sausage Using a Mixture Design Approach

Abstract

A 10-point simplex lattice design was used to investigate the effect of varying the ratios of whey powder, ι-carrageenan, and fat, and their interactions on instrumental texture and sensory properties of mechanically separated turkey meat sausages. Regression models have been developed and contour plots were drawn in order to better understand the global tendency of measured responses. Whey powder had a more notable influence than that of ι-carrageenan on all textural parameters as whey powder proportion increased. At a higher proportion (8 g/100 g sausage), whey powder improved essentially hardness, gel stress, and chewiness of extra low-fat sausage (formulation 3, 4.2 ± 0.3 g of fat/100 g sausage). Environmental scanning electron microscopy of the corresponding sausage showed a compact microstructure characterized by large network connections. Sensory evaluation also indicated that whey powder increased the flavor, the firmness, and the sliceability scores of mechanically separated turkey meat sausage, in comparison to the high-fat standard sausage (formulation 1, 13.2 ± 0.2 g of fat/100 g sausage).