Development, Quality Evaluation and Storage Stability of Chicken Papad Incorporated with Spent Hen Meat Powder

Spent hens are an underutilized poultry resource, partly because meat from older birds is generally less tender than broiler meat. Converting spent hen meat into spent hen meat powder (SHMP) and incorporating it into convenience foods may provide a practical route for value addition. This study developed chicken papad containing cooked SHMP, evaluated four formulations containing 15%, 20%, 25% and 30% SHMP, and assessed the quality and storage stability of the selected product. Cooked SHMP was prepared by pressure-cooking minced meat at 15 psi for 30 min, drying at 60 ± 1°C for 20 h, grinding, and sieving through a 500-µm mesh. Papad formulations were prepared with varying SHMP and tapioca-starch levels while the other ingredients were held constant. The dough was steam-cooked, sheeted, dried at 60 ± 1°C for 4 h, packed in aluminium foil–low-density polyethylene (LDPE) laminate pouches, and stored at 25 ± 2°C for up to 60 days. Formulation B, containing 20% SHMP, had the highest overall acceptability score (7.35 ± 0.09) and was selected for further analysis. During storage, water activity, thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS), peroxide value, free fatty acids (FFA), yellowness, and chroma increased, whereas pH and several sensory scores showed small numerical declines. Total plate count (TPC), Staphylococcus aureus and yeast and mould count (YMC) remained relatively low; coliforms and Salmonella were not detected at the reported sampling intervals. The findings indicate that cooked SHMP can be incorporated into chicken papad at 20% with good initial sensory acceptance and that the product retained broadly acceptable measured quality attributes over the 60-day observation period. This research highlights the high potential of utilising spent hens to mitigate poultry industry co-product waste while offering a highly acceptable, novel animal-protein source for convenience food applications.