Possibility of Making Low-fat Sausages from Duck Meat with Addition of Rice Flour

Low-fat sausages with or without 10% hydrated rice flour were made from duck, chicken and pork and their physical and sensory properties were compared. Results showed that moisture content did not differ significantly among the sausage batters. However, crude protein, crude fat and total ash content were significantly lower in the group with added rice flour compared with the no flour group. Crude protein and crude fat were the highest in pork sausages without rice flour (p<0.05). Adding 10% rice flour reduced total expressible fluid in all meat type sausages. Cooking loss was also decreased when 10% rice flour was used in making sausages from chicken and pork. However, no changes in cooking loss were found in duck meat by adding rice flour. Again, the highest cooking loss was in pork sausages without rice flour and lowest in chicken sausages with 10% rice flour. The pH of the meat from different animal species differs significantly, although no significant difference was found within meat types with or without rice flour. Lightness ($L^*$) increased, while redness ($a^*$) decreased with adding rice flour in all meat type sausages. Results showed that hardness was significantly reduced when 10% rice flour was added to pork, chicken and duck meat (p<0.05). This may be due to increased water retention of rice flour after cooking. Sensory evaluation indicated that the overall acceptability of pork and chicken sausages with or without rice flour was the same, but duck sausages without rice flour had the highest off-flavor score among the sausages. Addition of rice flour increased the overall acceptability of duck sausage to that of pork and chicken sausages.