Effect of microencapsulated fish oil powder on selected quality characteristics of chicken sausages

BACKGROUND Encapsulation of fish oil for use as oil powder for the human food industry offers new product design possibilities. The fat content of fish is unique in the amount of of long chain n‐3 fatty acid that it contains. It can be expected that developing innovative food products with significantly improved nutritional value can simultaneously affect their rheological and sensory qualities in different ways. The present study aimed to compared the influence of the addition of fish oil and microencapsulated fish oil on the mechanical, structural, and sensory properties of poultry sausages during 21‐day storage. RESULTS In comparison with other systems, sausages enriched with microencapsulated fish oil were characterized by a greater capacity to accumulate potential strain energy (G′) and by statistically significantly greater hardness measured in all the storage periods that were tested. The sausages enriched with microencapsulated fish oil were characterized by higher water activity than the other sausage variants. The analysis of cryo‐scanning electron microscopy (cryo‐SEM) images indicated the presence of a large evenly dispersed oil phase and microcapsules in the structure of the sausages. The sample with the addition of microcapsules was characterized by higher values on the smell and consistency parameters. CONCLUSION The better results in the sensory evaluation of the structural parameters of the sample with microcapsules were consistent with the results of instrumental assessments. The use of microencapsulated fish oil powder as an ingredient of chicken sausages therefore seems to be a promising concept. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry