Quality characteristics of loaves from buffalo meat, liver and vegetables

The present investigation explored the possibilities of commercial utilization of buffalo liver in comminuted meat products. In this study, the effect of incorporating liver with meat and vegetables in loaves was studied. Different types of loaves were evaluated: (1) Control meat loaf, (2) liver-meat loaf (20% liver) and (3) liver-vegetable loaves (40% liver, 1:1 ratio of carrot and potato). The pH's; yield's, emulsion stabilities and proximate compositions were not significantly different between meat and liver-meat loaves. However, liver-vegetable loaves gave significantly (P<0.05) lower yields and different proximate compositions. Although, liver-meat and liver-vegetable loaves had acceptable sensory scores (above 6), control meat loaves gave significantly (P<0.05) higher sensory scores. Instrumental color evaluation suggested significantly (P<0.05) higher redness (a(*)) and chroma values in meat loaves and significantly (P<0.05) higher values of brightness (L(*)), yellowness (b(*)) and hue values in liver-meat and liver-vegetable loaves. Texture profile analysis showed that liver-meat and liver-vegetable loaves had significantly (P<0.05) lower values of hardness, springiness, cohesiveness, gumminess and chewiness than the control meat loaves. Among the loaves, liver-vegetable loaves were softer and hence had lower values for the textural parameters than liver-meat loaves. During refrigerated storage, liver-vegetable loaves had significantly (P<0.05) lower thiobarbituric acid reacting substances (TBARS) values than meat and liver-meat loaves. Shelf life studies indicated a shelf life of 15 days for meat and liver-meat loaves and 10 days for liver-vegetable loaves at 4±1 °C. It was concluded that buffalo liver could be commercially utilized for the preparation of acceptable comminuted meat products.