A comprehensive study on functional, rheological and sensory property of whey protein concentrate incorporated chicken meat nuggets

The purpose of the study was to develop low-fat functional chicken nuggets with minimum alteration in the sensory score, by using whey protein concentrate as a fat replacer. Whey protein concentrate powder was incorporated in product formulation at 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2% levels. The rheological behavior, physico-chemical, proximate, texture profile analysis and sensory analysis were conducted against chicken nuggets without whey protein concentrate incorporation. The rheological property with different fat levels (0.5-2%) at a shear rate range from 1-1000 s^-1 and the apparent viscosity values for meat emulsion shown highly significant (P<0.01) decrease with increasing shear rates. Chicken meat emulsion with whey protein concentrate showed non-Newtonian, shear-thinning behaviour. Incorporation of whey protein concentrate significantly (P<0.05) increased the emulsion stability, cooking yield, protein & moisture content whereas fat content decreased significantly (P<0.05). pH value and ash content increased non-significantly (P>0.05) with the incorporation of whey protein concentrate. Texture profile analysis revealed highly significant (P<0.01) increase in hardness & gumminess, moreover a significant (P<0.05) increase was observed for springiness, cohesiveness, chewiness & resilience value with incorporation of whey protein concentrate. Sensory scores of chicken nuggets with whey protein concentrate powder were found acceptable up to 2% of incorporation, whereas, scores found maximum for chicken nuggets incorporated with 1.5% whey protein concentrate. The whey protein concentrate powder incorporation in chicken meat nuggets significantly reduces the fat content without deteriorating sensory quality. Thus, incorporation of whey protein concentrate in chicken nuggets can provide valuable insight into functional food without compromising the physio-chemical, textural and sensory quality.