Sensory acceptability and cost economics of chicken meat nuggets incorporated with chia seeds as a source of omega 3 fatty acids and mulberry fruit extract as a natural antioxidant

Abstract

The objective of this research was to develop functional chicken meat nuggets incorporated with chia seed flour (CSF) as a source of omega-3 fatty acids and mulberry fruit extract (MFE) as a natural antioxidant and to evaluate their sensory acceptability and cost economics. Various trials were conducted to optimize the level of chia seed flour and mulberry fruit extract. For optimization of CSF, the chicken nuggets were prepared using four different levels (0, 5, 10 and 15%) and similarly for the optimization of MFE four different levels (0, 0.1, 0.5 and 1%) were incorporated in chicken nuggets, where the observations suggested that CSF was best acceptable at the level of 10% and MFE at the level of 0.5%; both these decisions were made on the basis of sensory acceptability of the developed product as per the observations made by the sensory panelists. The sensory attributes of chicken meat nuggets were evaluated using an 8-point descriptive scale to assess the acceptability of the developed products. Cost-economic analysis revealed that the final cost of production per kilogram of chicken meat nuggets was estimated as Rs. 312.11, 296.57, 304.19 and 296.82 for T1, T2, T3 and T4, respectively.