Effect of full-fat soy paste and textured soy granules on quality and shelf-life of goat meat nuggets in frozen storage Arun K. Das a, * , A.S.R. Anjaneyulu a , Y.P. Gadekar a , R.P. Singh b , H. Pragati a a Division of Livestock Products Technology, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, Bareilly 243 122, India b PHT Division, Central Avian Research Institute, Izatnagar, Bareilly 243 122, India Received 22 September 2007; received in revised form 11 January 2008; accepted 11 February 2008 Abstract Goat meat nuggets were prepared using commercially available textured soy granules and reduced beany flavour full-fat soy paste (FFSP) made by simple processing technology to compare the performance of these proteins in a comminuted meat system. Addition of soy proteins (soy paste and soy granules) did not significantly affect the product yield, pH, moisture and fat percentage whereas pro- tein content and water holding capacity (% expressible water) were significantly (p > 0.05) lower in nuggets with 15% soy paste. Lower force was required to compress or shear the sample as hardness, springiness, gumminess and chewiness decreased in soy paste incorpo- rated nuggets. Soy proteins either paste or granules, did not affect sensory attributes except flavour and overall acceptability. Nuggets with soy paste and control ones did not differ significantly for flavour and overall acceptability whereas nuggets with soy granules were rated significantly (p > 0.05) lower. The nuggets remained stable with minor changes in physico-chemical, microbiological and sensory quality during frozen storage (18 ± 1 °C) for 90 days. It is concluded from this study that FFSP could be successfully incorporated in comminuted meat systems for producing quality products similar to commercially available soy granules. Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Full-fat soy paste; Soy granules; Goat meat nuggets; Texture profiles; Storage stability 1. Introduction Soybean is a highly nutritious food material that con- tains well balanced amino acids and desirable fatty acids and it plays an important role as a protein resource for Asian people. Recently, many functions of soybeans have been in the spotlight, for example, reducing the risk of heart disease, cancer, and so on (FDA, 1999). Despite the many advantages of soybean, its use as a food material has been limited because of off-flavour such as ‘‘beany fla- vour” or ‘‘green beany flavour” generated during process- ing (King et al., 2001; Mizutani & Hashimoto, 2004). The lipoxygenases in soybean catalyze the hydroperoxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids by molecular oxygen which results in the generation of off-flavours associated with compounds such as n-hexanal and n-hexanol (Matoba, Hidaka, Kitamura, Kaizuma, & Kito, 1985). It is impor- tant to prevent lipid peroxidation to reduce off-flavour and to make the products containing full-fat soy protein pleasant to consumers. Many attempts have been made to control such off-flavour generation during soybean pro- cessing. Wilkens, Mattick, and Hand (1967) reported that grinding soybean at high temperature is effective to control lipoxygenase activities and results in a reduction of off-fla- vour generation and maximizes protein extraction. The objectionable aroma and flavour of full-fat soy protein need to be eliminated or minimized before its use as an extender in meat systems. Recently, Das, Anjaneyulu, and Kondaiah (2006) stan- dardized a simple processing technique to make reduced beany flavour full-fat soy paste (FFSP) as a non-meat pro- 0309-1740/$ - see front matter Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.meatsci.2008.02.011 * Corresponding author. Present address: Goat Products Technology Laboratory, Central Institute for Research on Goats, Makdhom, Farah 281 122, Mathura, UP, India. Fax: +91 565 2763246. E-mail address: arunlpt@gmail.com (A.K. Das). www.elsevier.com/locate/meatsci Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Meat Science 80 (2008) 607–614 MEAT SCIENCE