Improvement of quality characteristics of turkey pâté through optimization of a protein rich ingredient: physicochemical analysis and sensory evaluation

Abstract The consumer preference for ready-to-eat foods is growing rapidly, it provides many benefits to health care because it is very rich source of dietary fiber, minerals, and amino acids. The present study was to prepare and evaluate the quality of turkey meat pâté made with a high nutritional value protein-herbal supplement containing cereal flours (oat, rice, corn, and buckwheat). The physicochemical characteristics (pH, aw, color, texture, chemical composition), amino acid profile, sensory and quality analysis for turkey meat pâté were investigated. The use of the protein-herbal supplement decreased lightness (L*) and redness (a*) values but intensified the yellowness (b*) of cooked pâtés. The amount of essential amino acids significantly increased compared to the control sample. The protein-herbal supplement which was developed was proved to be very rich source of unsaturated fatty acids: the content of monounsaturated fatty acids increased by 27.8% and polyunsaturated acids by 0.7% in the final pâté.