Development of Ready to Cook Dehydrated Chicken Cutlet Mix and its Quality Changes During Storage at Ambient Temperature

The rising preference for convenience food among the new age consumers has led to the development of time saving, shelf stable ready-to-cook food products. Considering this, the aim of the study was to develop a nutritious, convenience and shelf stable Ready to Cook chicken cutlet mix (RTCCCM) and check its storage stability in terms of quality changes at ambient temperature storage for a period of 3 months.

Formulation of RTCCCM was standardized using fermented milk powder as a binder and was extended with dehydrated vegetable mix. The mix after processing was packaged in Aluminium foil- LDPE laminates (ALP) and stored at ambient temperature for 3 months.

RTCCCM was rich in minerals, nutrients and energy. With progression in storage significant (p<0.05) increase in PV, TBARS and FFA were recorded while the pH followed a decreasing trend. The a_w of the mix was well within the limits of dehydrated products. The mix was microbiologically stable upto 90 days of storage. Sensory analysis of cutlets prepared from 90 day stored mix was found to be organoleptically acceptable, with no marked changes in flavor and quality suggesting that RTCCCM could be used safely as a convenience product under aerobic conditions with minor losses of physico-chemical properties, colour, textural, microbiological and sensory quality.