Studies on the effect of Rice bran oil for the development of functional poultry product – Chicken shreds

Rice Bran oil (RBO) is edible oil with naturally balanced fatty acid composition quite close to the latest recommendations by the National Institute of Nutrition. Development of Ready-To-Eat poultry products with enhanced shelf life and good functional attributes is a major challenge to meat chemists. In the present study RBO and Sunflower oil (SFO) combinations at different levels were tried for the development of ready to eat chicken shreds with functional properties. Physico-chemical markers like proximate composition, Hunter color values, Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substance (TBARS), Peroxide value (PV), Free fatty acid (FFA), Total carbonyls, sensory evaluation and microbial profile were established initially and during refrigerated (4 ±1 oC) storage for 30 days. Correlation was established between lipid oxidative markers like Total carbonyls and TBARS and showed a quadratic fit model with R = 0.99. A significant decrease (p<0.05) in rancidity parameters were observed in RBO treated samples in relation with SFO. Initially sensory profile did not differ significantly (p>0.05) in all the samples but significant (p<0.05) decrease in overall acceptability scores were noticed after 30 days storage in SFO treated samples. Studies revealed the feasibility of employing RBO as a cooking medium for the development of poultry products with enhanced shelf stability.