Development and evaluation of a chicken breakfast sausage manufactured with mechanically deboned chicken meat

Dairy and Poultry Sciences Department, University of Florida, Gainesville 32611-0910, USA.

Leghorn spent hen mechanically deboned chicken meat (MDCM) was utilized in the preparation of a value-added chicken sausage. The sausage was manufactured by combining MDCM with hand-deboned skinless chicken thigh meat, fat replacer ingredients (blend of modified food starch and oat flour), and either 1) no ingredient with antioxidant properties, 2) Colorlife powdered rosemary concentrate, 3) Herbalox Type O oleoresin rosemary extract or 4) Tenox 6 antioxidant. The 454-g sausage chubs were stored at 4 +/- 1 C (refrigerated) and -20 +/- 1 C (frozen) for 10 d and 6 mo, respectively. A shelf life evaluation (based on daily examination of product, panelists responses, and psychrotrophic organism counts) of 8 d and 6 mo was attained for the sausage stored at 4 +/- 1 and -20 +/- 1 C, respectively. Flavor intensity, texture, and color were maintained for all treatments, and no significant (P > 0.05) off-flavors were detected through 8 d and 6 mo storage. Colorlife and Herbalox rosemary ingredients, and Tenox 6 antioxidant had no adverse effects on sensory characteristics of the chicken sausage. Psychrotrophic organisms increased with increased storage time for the refrigerated sausage, and remained static for the frozen sausage.