The technological and nutritional advantages of emulsified sausages with partial back-fat replacement by succinylated chicken liver protein and pre-emulsified sunflower oil

This work aimed at exploring the potential of partial substitution of the back-fat with fat mimetic, a novel polysaccharide-protein complex of xanthan gum and succinylated chicken liver protein, to improve the physicochemical characteristics and fatty acid composition of emulsified sausages. The quality characteristics of the sausages demonstrated that low-fat emulsified sausages with the addition of fat mimetic or its sunflower oil pre-emulsion presented similar microstructure and texture to high-fat sausages, while pre-emulsion increased the gel strength and whiteness of products. The rheological behavior characterization indicated that fat replacers caused a significant increase in storage modulus and loss modulus, explaining well the decreased cooking loss and the improved emulsification stability, water holding capacity (WHC) and heating stability. Although the back-fat replacement led to a great decrease in fatty acids, the nutritional values of fatty acids were optimized due to the incorporation of sunflower oil, as revealed by a 10% increase of polyunsaturated fatty acids and the decreased TBARS values within the storage. This study suggests the technological feasibility to simultaneously improve the quality and nutritional features of emulsified sausages with partial back-fat replacement by the proposed polysaccharide-protein complex, as well as the way to achieve chicken liver valorization.