Effect of Prickly Pear (<i>Opuntia ficus-indica</i> L.) Peel Incorporation to Meat Batter on the Quality of Functional Chicken Sausages

While representing a valuable source of high-quality protein, meat products have certain limitations, including their susceptibility to lipid oxidation and a general lack of complex carbohydrates, like dietary fiber.This study explores the potential of prickly pear peel (PPP), an agricultural byproduct rich in dietary fiber and phenolic compounds, as a functional food additive to address these drawbacks.In this study, functional chicken sausages were prepared with varying contents of PPP (2%, 4%, 6%, and 8% of the total meat batter, w/w), and their nutritional value, cooking properties, content of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), microbial quality, and sensory acceptability were assessed.PPP incorporation to meat batter significantly enhanced the nutritional value of the sausages, as evidenced by an increase in both ash and dietary fiber contents.Furthermore, PPP addition improved the cooking yield from 85.96% to 89.47% and the water holding capacity from 25.36% to 66.29%.The TBARS value decreased as the total phenolic content of the sausages increased.Notably, after 21 days of refrigeration, the sausages supplemented with 8% PPP exhibited significantly lower total plate counts (4.6210 5 CFU/g) compared to the control samples (5.5410 5 CFU/g).Sensory evaluation revealed that the control samples and the sausages with 2% PPP achieved the highest overall acceptability scores among all treatments.These findings support the potential of PPP as a value-added ingredient to improve the nutritional quality, functional properties, and storage stability of meat products.