Incorporation of soluble dietary fiber in comminuted meat products: Special emphasis on changes in textural properties

Comminuted meat products represent a diverse class of meat products that are popular for their characteristic texture and flavor. Comminuted meat products are incorporated with dietary fibers for various functional and nutritional purposes. These fibers are mostly the carbohydrate polymers of different types. The dietary fibers have been observed to affect the texture of meat products irrespective of the reason for their incorporation. These fibers have been shown to enhance the functional properties and health benefits of meat products. The effect of different fibers on the textural and other quality attributes has not been reported uniformly by the researchers making it hard to compare these studies. In this review, we have given an overview of the textural properties of comminuted meat products and summarized the existing researches reported on the textural changes of meat products due to soluble dietary fiber incorporation.