Potentials of gum from Detarium microcarpum (DM) and Mucuna flagellipes (MF) seeds as raw beef burger stabilizers.

Raw beef burgers containing graded levels (0.25, 0.5, 0.75. and 1.0%) of polysaccharide gums extracted from Detarium microcarpum (DM) and Mucuna flagellipes (MF) were produced. Unstabilized beef burgers and beef burgers containing gum tragacanth (TR) were also produced simultaneously to serve as control. The raw beef burgers were evaluated for selected physicochemical and sensory properties so as to assess the stabilization potentials of DM and MF polysaccharide gums relative to the conventional TR. Beef burgers containing the polysaccharide gums had significantly (P < 0.05) lower shrinkage, higher water holding capacity (WHC), and better stability under ambient conditions (27 +/- 1 degrees C and RH 90.6%) then the unstabilized burgers. Among the stabilized burgers, DM gum burgers had lower (P < or = 0.05) shrinkage and higher WHC than MF and TR gums burgers. All the gum-stabilized beef burgers required 9-26% higher compression force indicating a less friable product than the unstabilized burgers. At 0.25 and 0.5% levels of gum incorporation DM gum burgers had comparable compression force with TR gum burgers and this was lower (P < or = 0.05) than the compression force of MF gum burgers. Sensory panel results indicated a lower score for finger feel in gum-stablized burgers than the unstabilized burgers. DM and TR gum burgers had comparable scores with TR gum burgers in all the sensory attributes tested. Overall acceptability score showed that all the gum-stabilized beef burgers were acceptable. It was evident from the study that polysaccharide gums from DM and MF seeds can serve as effective stabilizers in beef burgers without adverse effect on the quality of the product.