Totaro Michela Pia, Miccolis Mariana, De Angelis Davide, Natrella Giuseppe, Caponio Francesco, Summo Carmine, Faccia Michele
Department of the Soil, Plant and Food Science DiSSPA, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Via Amendola, 165/a, 70126 Bari, Italy.
Foods. 2025 Jun 18;14(12):2127. doi: 10.3390/foods14122127.
Fats play a key role in the rheological and textural properties of meat products. However, growing awareness of the link between diet and disease has stimulated research on fat replacers that can replicate these functional properties. Inulin, a β-D-fructose polymer available in various degrees of polymerization (DP), is promising as a fat replacer due to its gel-forming ability in aqueous systems and its neutral sensory profile. This study focused on optimizing the formulation of inulin gel-based fat replacers for producing reduced-fat beef burgers. A D-optimal mixture-process design was employed, considering inulin with high-DP (HDP) and low-DP (LDP). The aim was to determine the optimal amount of inulin, water, and guar gum to achieve gels with rheological properties (η, shear viscosity; K, consistency index) similar to beef fat. The optimal formulations consisted of 51.52% inulin, 48.48% water, 1.50% guar gum for LDP gel, and 39.12% inulin, 60.88% water, 1.50% guar gum for HDP gel. These gels demonstrated shear viscosity and consistency indices comparable to beef fat. While rheological behavior at constant temperatures was similar, inulin gels showed increasing viscoelastic moduli (G' and G″) with temperature, in contrast to the melting behavior of animal fat. When used in beef burger formulations, the optimized gels resulted in improved cooking yields, reduced shrinkage, and better dimensional stability compared to conventional controls. These benefits are attributed to the hydrophilic and stabilizing properties of inulin. The findings support the use of inulin-based gels as effective fat replacers, offering a promising strategy to reduce fat content in meat products without compromising functional quality.
脂肪在肉制品的流变学和质地特性中起着关键作用。然而，人们对饮食与疾病之间联系的认识不断提高，这激发了对能够复制这些功能特性的脂肪替代品的研究。菊粉是一种具有不同聚合度（DP）的β-D-果糖聚合物，由于其在水性体系中的凝胶形成能力以及中性的感官特性，有望成为一种脂肪替代品。本研究聚焦于优化基于菊粉凝胶的脂肪替代品配方，用于生产低脂牛肉汉堡。采用了D-最优混合工艺设计，考虑了高聚合度（HDP）和低聚合度（LDP）的菊粉。目的是确定菊粉、水和瓜尔胶的最佳用量，以获得具有与牛肉脂肪相似流变学特性（η，剪切粘度；K，稠度指数）的凝胶。最佳配方为：LDP凝胶含有51.52%菊粉、48.48%水、1.50%瓜尔胶；HDP凝胶含有39.12%菊粉、60.88%水、1.50%瓜尔胶。这些凝胶表现出与牛肉脂肪相当的剪切粘度和稠度指数。虽然在恒定温度下的流变行为相似，但菊粉凝胶的粘弹性模量（G'和G″）随温度升高而增加，这与动物脂肪的熔化行为相反。当用于牛肉汉堡配方时，与传统对照组相比，优化后的凝胶提高了烹饪产量，减少了收缩，并具有更好的尺寸稳定性。这些益处归因于菊粉的亲水性和稳定性。研究结果支持将基于菊粉的凝胶用作有效的脂肪替代品，为在不影响功能质量的情况下降低肉制品脂肪含量提供了一种有前景的策略。
