Investigating the Effect of Meat Level and Processing Conditions on Quality Characteristics of Extruded Chicken Meat Noodles Using Response Surface Methodology

A three factor three level central composite design was adopted to determine interactive effects of meat level (55–65%), steaming time (12–18 minutes) and drying time (7–9 hrs) on pH, moisture, protein content, fat content and other quality characteristics (Hardness, adhesiveness, total colour change and overall acceptability) of extruded chicken noodles. Moisture, protein, fat level and total colour change was found to be increased with increase in meat level while decreased with increasing processing conditions. However hardness decreased with increasing interaction of meat level and steaming time while increased with interaction of meat level and drying time and inverse were true for adhesiveness. Overall acceptability and pH had negative correlation with interactions. pH showed increasing trend with increase in processing conditions. The models for moisture, pH, protein, fat percentage, allokramer hardness, adhesiveness, total colour change and overall acceptability had the R square values of 0.91, 0.81, 0.83, 0.81, 0.87, 0.91, 0.82 and 0.94, respectively. 120 g (60%) meat level, 15 min steaming time and 9 hrs drying time were found to be optimized level on the basis of desirability plots for the development of chicken noodles.