Acta Scientiarum Polonorum Technologia Alimentaria

Abstract The work presents an analysis of the effect of a combined addition of 0.5% carrageenan and selected polysaccharide hydrocolloids (0.05 or 0.1% locust bean gum or mixture of guar and xanthan gums) or 0.7% soy protein isolate on the texture and sensory quality of chicken meat ham. Cooking loss, textural characteristics and sensory indicators were determined in final product after 24 hours of storage. After 3-weeks storage in a chilling room (+4°C) drip loss (drip found inside of vacuum package) and textural characteristics of hams were measured. The results showed that an addition of 0.5% carrageenan in combination with 0.7% soy protein isolate significantly reduced cooking loss and drip loss in chicken meat ham. Texture measurements indicated that use of both additives men-tioned affected the texture of the final product: hardness, chewiness and cohesiveness in-creased significantly. Basing on a sensory evaluation the most desired texture was ob-tained for hams containing a combined addition of carrageenan (0.5%) and mixture of guar and xanthan gums (0.05%) or locust bean gum (0.1%).