Whole cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) flour (WCPF) as non-conventional extender in meatloaf

Meatloaves were produced using whole cowpea flour (WCPF) instead of Ground Beef (GB) (w/w) by 0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% levels of incorporation. Moisture content increased significantly (p<0.05) with increasing use of WCPF while pH and protein were not significantly influenced (p>0.05). Cooking loss (%) reduced significantly (p<0.05) and sensory evaluation of meatloaves revealed very high scores for the overall acceptability of meatloaves containing up to 15% WCPF. In fact, most of the sensory attributes evaluated by the consumer panelists were liked very much up to 10% usage of WCPF in place of GB and the costs of producing meatloaf reduced appreciably with increased usage of WCPF. It was concluded that GB could be replaced with 10% WCPF in meatloaf formulations in order to save 27% of the cost of production without any adverse effects on sensory and physico-chemical properties.