Development and evaluation of quail breakfast sausage

• The quail meat trimmings offer new opportunity for developing new food products.
• Influence of pea flour protein on quail meat breakfast sausage was investigated.
• Pea flour protein improved water-holding capacity, cook-yield, and juiciness.
• Quail sausages with pea flour protein exhibited improved sensory attributes.
• This research presents a new value-added quail meat sausage.

The Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) is an underutilized source of meat and a rapid rise in the worldwide consumption of poultry meat products presents a great scope for new product development. This study assessed the influence of pea flour at two concentrations 15 g/kg and 25 g/kg on sensory and other physicochemical properties of sausages using quail meat. Addition of pea flour at 15 g/kg offered the benefits of lighter color, improved water holding capacity, water binding ability, and cook yield as compared to control. Sausages with 15 g/kg however, had hardness and Warner-Bratzler Shear Force (WBSF) greater than the control (p < 0.05). Addition of pea flour increased lipid oxidation and aerobic plate counts which were monitored over 5 and 6 days of simulated retail display respectively. Thus, 15 g/kg pea flour was deemed optimal for preparing quail sausages. By including suitable antioxidants and antimicrobials in the formulation, quail breakfast sausages with pea flour present a good opportunity for commercial application and development of new food products.