Meat and meat products are important foods with essential nutritional components such as essential amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins and minerals that form a significant component for the normal physiological and biochemical processes. However, the main drawback of meat and meat products is the absence of dietary fibre and the presence of saturated fat. Value improvement can be done by the incorporation of functional ingredients into the meat products. The use of functional ingredients in meat products offers processors the opportunity to enhance the functional and nutritional value of their products. Vegetable proteins, dietary fibre, cereal by-products, fruits, legumes, spices, herbs, and lactic acid bacteria that have been used alone or in combination for the enhancement of the functional value of meat and meat products were studied. Hence, the current review focuses on the functional ingredients incorporated in meat products

Pectin obtained from apple pomace was employed to protect fresh-cut apple from quality deterioration arising after cutting. Pectin edible coatings were formulated as emulsion and nanoemulsion carrying cinnamon essential oil (CEO) as antimicrobial, conferring the capability of active packaging to these coatings. Pectin nanoemulsion (PNE) was found to be most effective in preventing the proliferation of pathogens like Escherichia coli and Listeria monocytogenes as well as the general microflora rendering it unsuitable for consumption. In terms of quality parameters such as texture and colour, fresh-cut apple treated with pectin emulsion (PE), PNE, and pectin coating without CEO (P) presented promising results at the end of storage. Significant (P < 0.05) effect of PE and PNE was noticed on texture and colour parameters. PNEs can, therefore, be applied for preserving the quality and ensuring safety of fresh-cut apple.

Quince fruits harvested at commercial maturity were evaluated for using the feasibility of gamma irradiation to maintain storage quality and extend shelf-life. Matured green quince fruits were irradiated in the dose range of 0.3-2.1 kGy followed by storage under ambient (temperature 15 ± 2°C, RH 85%) conditions. The fruits were evaluated at intervals of 5 days for various physico-chemical parameters to investigate the effect. Studies revealed that irradiation treatment significantly (p ≤ 0.05) maintained the storage quality of quince fruit under ambient conditions. Positive correlations (r = 0.88) existed between the irradiation treatment and firmness retention, while as an inverse correlation (r = -0.89) existed between radiation treatment and water soluble pectin. Color scores of the fruits showed that extent of decrease in L value was 13.1% in control fruits compared to 3.4% and 2.8% in 1.8 kGy and 2.1 kGy irradiated fruits after 30 days of storage. Retention of higher hue values (79.8) in 2.1 kGy treated fruits indicated inhibition of chlorophyll degradation at higher doses. Microbial analysis indicated that in samples irradiated at 1.8 and 2.1 kGy, no microbial load was detected up to 15 days of ambient storage and resulted in about 2.4 log reduction in microbial load after 30 days of storage. Dose range of 1.8-2.1 kGy significantly inhibited the decaying of quince and resulted in about 40 days extension under ambient storage.

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