Effect of ionizing radiation on the protein and lipid quality characteristics of mutton kheema treated with rice bran oil and sunflower oil

• RBO as an effective cooking medium and an antioxidant in development of meat products.
• Negative impact on quality of protein and fat with respect to dosage increase.
• Role of non-heme iron as a catalyst in lipid oxidation during irradiation.
• Positive effects of RBO in inhibiting lipid and protein oxidation during irradiation.
• RBO and FSO treatment yielded a stable designer meat product as per WHO recommendations.

Effect of rice bran oil (RBO) and irradiation (0, 1, 2 and 3 kGy) on lipid and protein quality of ready-to-eat mutton kheema were established during refrigerated storage (4±1 °C). Total carbonyls, thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS), non-heme iron and total volatiles in irradiated RBO samples were significantly lower (p<0.05) from the corresponding sunflower oil (SFO) treated samples initially and during storage. Product with RBO and Flaxseed oil (FSO) at the optimized level yielded a designer meat product having an SFA:MUFA:PUFA and n-6/n-3 ratio of 1:1.3:1.3 and 3.6:1 respectively. Degradation in PUFA levels in SFO samples were significantly higher (p<0.05) and an increase of 31% in metmyoglobin after 50 days was noticed in comparison with RBO samples. Non-linear correlation analysis of chemical markers established polynomial fit equations. 2 kGy radiation processing with RBO yielded a product having 50 days of shelf stability in terms of its chemical characteristics.