A review on functional ingredients in red meat products

Meat and meat products are important foods with essential nutritional components such as essential amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins and minerals that form a significant component for the normal physiological and biochemical processes. However, the main drawback of meat and meat products is the absence of dietary fibre and the presence of saturated fat. Value improvement can be done by the incorporation of functional ingredients into the meat products. The use of functional ingredients in meat products offers processors the opportunity to enhance the functional and nutritional value of their products. Vegetable proteins, dietary fibre, cereal by-products, fruits, legumes, spices, herbs, and lactic acid bacteria that have been used alone or in combination for the enhancement of the functional value of meat and meat products were studied. Hence, the current review focuses on the functional ingredients incorporated in meat products.