Storage Stability of Mutton Nuggets Extended with Carrot Powder as A Functional Ingredient

A study was conducted to evaluate the storage stability of mutton nuggets extended with 2% carrot powder against control with no carrot powder. The product was packed in low density polyethylene bags, stored at 4±1°C and evaluated at 5 day intervals for 25 days for various physico-chemical, microbiological and sensory quality attributes. The pH of the nuggets increased significantly (P<0.05) during storage, but the increase was lower in carrot powder extended nuggets (6.44) than control (6.55). Overall thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) of mutton nuggets extended with carrot powder (0.22 mg malonaldehyde/kg) was significantly (P<0.05) lower than control (0.37 mg malonaldehyde/kg). Total plate count of control (2.84 log10 cfu/g) was higher than carrot powder extended mutton nuggets (2.72 log 10 cfu/g). Psychrotrophs showed growth after 15 days whereas yeast and mould showed growth after 20 days, but psychrotroph, yeast and mould counts of carrot powder extended with mutton nuggets were lower than control. The overall sensory quality of carrot powder extended with mutton nuggets was higher than control. It was concluded that the overall storage stability of mutton nuggets extended with carrot powder was better than control.