A Pumpkin-Based Emulsion Gel as a Texture Improvement of Mixed Horsemeat Semi-Smoked Sausages.

Semi-smoked sausages were made with 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, and 25% replacement of horsemeat by emulsion gel made with offal broth (stomach, kidney, liver, heart, brain, and a miscellaneous trimmings of a horse), pumpkin flour, and egg yolk in a ratio of 5:4:1. The technological, nutritional, oxidative, and rheological (G' and G″) properties were studied. Sausage water holding capacity (WHC) rose after being incorporated with pumpkin-based emulsion gel (PEG). There was a statistically significant (p < 0.01) improvement in sausage emulsion stability. Lipid oxidation in all samples, especially 5% and 15% addition of emulsion gel samples, was below the rancidity criterion, which is TBARS > 2.0−2.5 mg MDA/kg sample. This really is encouraging because unsaturated fatty acids, such as those found in horsemeat, are easily oxidized. Use of the emulsion gel did not noticeably alter the sausages' pH. Using emulsion gel considerably reduced the cooking loss (p < 0.05) of sausages and significantly improved texture (p < 0.05). Partial replacement of mixed horsemeat with emulsion gel improved the physicochemical characteristics of semi-smoked sausages. The elasticity modulus (G') showed that PEG15 (15% of emulsion gel) was the most resilient gel. The least powerful gels (p < 0.05) were PEG20 and PEG25. According to this study, adding a pumpkin-based emulsion gel to the meat matrix could improve the quality of the emulsified meat system and provide important data for related research and companies as strategies to market a healthier and more nutritious product with the necessary quality characteristics.

Food safety research and improvement of the technology of cottage cheese product with the use of green buckwheat.

The purpose of thе article is to study the safety indicators of the curd product, which includes cottage cheese prepared with a starter culture of direct application "Evitalia," consisting of bacteria of the genus Lactococcus (L. acidophilius), Streptococcus (Streptococcus thermophilius) and propionobacteria. Other ingredients are crushed mass from green buckwheat, candied pumpkin, cooked Jerusalem artichoke sirup, and fat emulsion based on coconut oil. The sweetness of the curd product is provided by Jerusalem artichoke sirup, whereas fat emulsion based on coconut oil enriches the product with unsaturated fatty acids and gives plasticity and uniformity of structure. The results of the study showed that the formulation with the following ingredients: 40% of cottage cheese, 40% of crushed mass from green buckwheat, 10% of candied pumpkin, 10% of coconut oil emulsion-has the best organoleptic, physico-chemical, structural and plastic properties. The ratio of milk protein of cottage cheese and vegetable protein of green buckwheat is 1:1. This allowed to obtain the chemical composition of the product: proteins-29%, fats-9%, carbohydrates-59%, ash-3%. The obtained research and technological solutions can be used at dairy industry enterprises in the production of combined dairy and vegetable products.

Use of Meat-Bone Paste to Develop Calcium-Enriched Liver Pâté.

The production technology of meat-bone paste and its effect on chemical, mineral and amino acid compositions of liver pâté were studied. The liver was replaced by meat-bone paste in the concentration of 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25% for the production of experimental samples. The compositional analysis of pâté manufactured with meat-bone paste showed that the reformulation did not influence the content of moisture (~56%), fat (~28%), or protein (~11%) while producing a significant increase of ash and a decrease of carbohydrates in comparison with control pâtés. The higher amounts of minerals of bone-meat paste, including calcium (3080 mg/100 g), magnesium (2120 mg/100 g), phosphorous (2564 mg/100 g), and iron (7.30 mg/100 g), explained the higher amount of both ash and these minerals in the reformulated samples compared to the control samples. The total caloric value (~300 kcal/100 g) was also unaffected by the addition of bone-meat paste. The content of both essential and non-essential amino acids decreased with the inclusion of meat-bone paste, although this decrease was lower in essential (6280 mg/100 g in control vs. 5756 mg/100 g in samples with 25% of meat-bone paste) than in non-essential amino acids (6080 mg/100 g in control vs. 3590 mg/100 g in samples with 25% of meat-bone paste). This fact is due to several essential amino acids not showing differences between control and reformulated samples, while in non-essential amino acids, these differences were greater. The results of this study showed that meat-bone paste addition is a good strategy to produce liver pâté enriched in minerals and with minimum influence on the content of the other important nutrients. Therefore, these results can be used for the design of new liver pâté with an increased nutritional significance by using meat industry by-products. According to the balance of minerals, the use of 15% of meat-bone paste to reformulate liver pâté is the best strategy used in the present research. However, additional studies on the stability (during storage), shelf-life, and sensory acceptability of these reformulated pâtés should be carried out.