Development of a healthy low-fat fish sausage containing dietary fibre

In order to develop a healthy low-fat fish sausage containing dietary fibre (DF), three fundamental changes were made to an ordinary pork sausage recipe: incorporation of 4% (w/w) of Swelite(R) (a DF obtained from inner pea), different levels of pork meat replacement (0%, 50% and 100%) by hake mince and the combination of varying amounts of Fibruline(R) (a DF obtained from chicory root) and hake mince (Fibruline: additional hake mince, 2.6:5.2, 5.2:2.6 and 7.8:0.0, % w/w) as a substitute for pork fat. It was found that the addition of Swelite to pork sausage favoured greater gel strength and hardness. On the contrary, increasing levels of pork meat replacement by hake reduced the sausages' gel strength and hardness. Finally, sausages without pork fat showed promising textural and colour parameters. High-Fibruline sausages were less cohesive and chewable than pork fat sausages (control), but also exhibited a greater gel strength. Low-Fibruline ones presented almost all textural properties similar to the control, with exception of hardness and gumminess. Therefore, regarding some key textural parameters, it was possible to produce low-fat fish sausages similar to the ordinary pork sausages.