Characteristics of Low Fat Meatballs

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of using different amounts of potato puree (PP) (10 or 20%) and 10% bread crumbs (BC) as an extender and also control samples (C) with no added extender on chemical composition, energy values, cooking analyses, colour measurements, water holding capacity (WHC), penetration values, thiobarbituric acid value (TBA) and sensory analyses of meatballs. Meatball samples were cooked in a pre-heated 180 degrees C electric oven. Uncooked meatballs formulated with 20% PP had the highest moisture content. No significant differences were recorded for protein contents of uncooked samples. The highest cooking yield was found in samples extended with 10% BC. Increasing PP from 10% to 20% increased cooking yield of meatballs. 20% PP increased moisture and fat retention values and water holding capacity of meatballs. Meatballs with 10% BC had the lowest (the hardness in the texture) and meatballs with the 20% PP had the highest (the softness in the texture) penetration values. Formulating meatballs at a level of 20% resulted lower L* values. TBA values of control samples were higher than in PP added samples at the end of the storage period. Flavour scores for meatballs formulated with PP were higher than control and meatballs formulated with BC. Meatballs formulated with 10% PP had similar overall acceptability with meatballs added with 10% BC