Long-chain Soluble Dietary Fibre as Functional Ingredient in Cooked Meat Sausages

Long-chain soluble dietary fibre was incorporated into the elaboration of reduced-fat (30% less than normal content) cooked meat sausages. The fibre was added in powder form and as gel up to 7.5%. Fibre addition influence on the sensory characteristics of the meat products was determined through instrumental analysis of texture (cutting and compression) and sensory analysis. In general terms, there were few changes observed in the texture of the sausages, with results very similar to the controls. However, in the sensory evaluation, sausages elaborated with levels of fibre higher than 5% showed lower acceptability, especially those made with fibre in powder form. As a result, the reduced-fat cooked meat sausages obtained with 5% long-chain soluble dietary fibre resulted in a sensory acceptable product, both low-calorie and fibre-enriched.