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.