Physical and Sensory Properties of Low Fat Sausage Amended with Hydrated Oatmeal and Various Meats

Low-fat sausages were prepared with various meats to investigate the effect of the addition of oatmeal at 10% as a fat substitute. The sausages were made with beef, pork and chicken after trimming the visible fat, and the physical and sensory properties of the sausages were evaluated. Beef sausage had the lowest cooking yield and the highest hardness, while chicken sausage showed the opposite properties. The addition of oatmeal resulted in sausage products with less cooking loss and softer texture for all types of meat sausages. Such changes were more pronounced for beef low-fat sausage than for the other types of sausages. The results of moisture absorption suggested that the difference in cooking yield and hardness among sausage products was due to the water-retention properties of different meats and the substitute in response to heat treatment. Sensory evaluation indicated that the greatest overall acceptability of the sausage products were obtained from 10% oatmeal-added pork sausage and that the addition of oatmeal led to better acceptability for all types meat sausages.