Development Of Infant Meat Puree

Supplementary feeding is an important stage in the growth of infant and young children.Globally,nutrient deficiencies at this stage lead to increasing malnutrition rates in children under five years of age.Complementary foods include cereal-based food,canned food and nutritional supplements.Infant meat puree is a kind of canned complementary food,which plays an important role in the growth and development of infants.Due to poor equipment and technology,the quality attributes of meat puree are not high in China,in terms of high hardness,poor viscosity,unfavorable flavor,and low digestibility.Therefore,infant meat puree in the market is mainly imported from other countries,but domestic products are extremely rare.In western countries,consumers prefer puree made of beef and chicken,but few meat puree products are prepared with.To meet the domestic needs,ultrasound was applied to prepare meat puree.In order to better understand consumers’ demand for infant meat puree,we conducted a consumer behavior study using questionnaire survey and interviews.Then we investigated the effects of raw meat source and ultrasonic process on the quality characteristics of meat puree.Two kinds of infant pork puree were developed.1 Consumers’ purchasing behavior study on infant meat pureeIn order to understand the consumers’ purchasing behavior of infant meat puree in China,questionnaires survey and online interviews were conducted.Consumers’ wareness,purchasing habits and market evaluation of complementary food were investigated.The results showed that compared with buying commercially available meat puree,consumers were more inclined to make meat puree at home,mainly because they had doubts about safety and hygiene of commercial meat puree.In addition,consumers were more willing to buy imported meat puree through supermarkets and online shopping than the domestically produced products.Great attention has been paid by consumers to quality safety,nutrition and acceptance of babies when they bought infant meat puree.Single sample T-test indicates that consumers’ overall evaluation of infant complementary market was good.Consumers paid more attention to infants’ acceptance of meat puree.The infants’ acceptance is directly related to the raw meat and processing technology used for meat puree.The quality of products can be improved by appropriate raw meat and processing technologies.2 Physicochemical properties and in vitro digestion properties of infant puree made from different meat speciesThe effects of different kinds of raw meat on the physical and chemical properties and digestibility of infant meat puree were studied.Infant purees made of beef,pork and chicken were selected to analyze crude composition,rheological properties,texture and digestibility.The results showed that there were significant differences in crude composition.Compared with chicken puree,beef and pork puree had higher protein and fat contents,and lower moisture content.Pork and beef puree also had better quality characteristics,in terms of rheology,texture and digestibility.In terms of rheology,infant meat puree exhibited shear thinning characteristics and weak gel-like properties.Compared with chicken puree,pork and beef puree had higher apparent viscosity and storage modulus,showing stronger interaction force between particles and more stable structure.The hardness and consistency of pork puree were higher than chicken puree but lower than beef puree.The digestibility of pork puree was higher than chicken and beef puree.Overall,there were significant differences in physicochemical properties and digestibility among three meat puree.3 Effect of ultrasonic treatment on quality characteristics of infant pork pureeIn order to improve the quality characteristics of infant pork puree,ultrasonic technology was applied.The influence of ultrasound on the quality of infant pork puree was investigated by comparing the differences in rheology,texture,water distribution,in vitro digestibility and particle size of the meat puree between non-ultrasonic group and ultrasonic group.The results showed that ultrasonic treatment of raw meat can improve the quality characteristics of infant meat puree by reducing the texture and viscosity but increasing immobilized water and digestibility.Through two-factor and three-level experiments,the optimal parameters for ultrasonic treatment were obtained,that is,ultrasonic power of 600 W,ultrasonic time of 15 min.4 Development of infant pork mixed pureeBased on the above results,Two kinds of infant pork puree were developed.The protein content of developed infant pork puree was higher than that of the mixed puree sold in the market.The meat puree products had uniform color,meat aroma and a little burnt smell,uniform and delicate tissue,moderate viscosity,and could be stored for more than two months.