Development of a New Formulation for Low Fat and Functional Sausage

It has been proved that certain dietary fat and cholesterol cause cardiovascular diseases and obesity and there is an increasing consumers’ demand for low fat and low calorie food products. Therefore the aim of this research work is to develop and formulate a low fat meat product namely the functional sausage. In order to reduce the fat and cholesterol contents of the product and produce a low fat and functional sausage، 25% of full fat meat (17% fat) in the formulation was replaced with 1. 2% and 1. 7% dietary fiber، (z-trim originated from corn) and calcium gluconate (20% RDA) as a calcium source. A series of physicochemical tests were carried out on the formulated product to understand the behavior of finished low fat، functional sausage. The results indicated that the fat، cholesterol and calorie contents were reduced by 34%-63%، 35%-51% and 27%-46% respectively as compared to the control. A combination of corn z-trim and calcium gluconate improves the physicochemical and nutritional properties as well as the emulsification quality of the formulated product. 1. 7% z-trim and calcium gluconate was selected as the best formulation.