Abstract

This study aimed at substituting animal proteins by Mucuna flour and protein concentrate in beef sausage. Mucuna pruriens var pruriens grains were first transformed into flour (500 µm) from which the protein concentrate was obtained. The extraction process was done in an aqueous medium at pH 4.5. Following the characterization of the flour and protein concentrate, 5 sausages samples (3 units per sample) with varying rates of incorporation of flour and protein concentrates (25, 50, 75 and 100%) as well as a reference made with 100% beef were produced. Quality of emulsion sausages was evaluated in terms of physicochemical and functional characteristics. The results obtained showed that protein content of Mucuna flour and protein concentrate was significantly different (p < 0.05), with values of 29.92 ± 0.51 and 59.74 ± 0.32%, respectively. For the functional properties, water retention capacity (333.32 g/100 g/100 g), emulsifying capacity (60.44%), jellification capacity (12 g/100 g) and foaming capacity (52.38%) were higher in the flour sample; whereas the oil retention capacity (290.33 g/100 g DMC) was higher in the protein concentrate. Incorporation rate had a significant influence (p<0.05) on the physicochemical and functional properties of the sausage samples produced, since the technological yield was observed to vary from 73.10±0.71 (S25) to 99.49±0.05% (S100), hardness from 3.43 ± 0.35 (S100) to 3.94 ± 0.05 N (S25) and the water retention capacity varied from 33.34±0.79 (S25) to 51.93±0.045% (S100). These parameters were observed to increase with an increase in the rate of substitution.

Key words: Mucuna flour, Mucuna protein concentrate, beef sausage, functional characterizations.