Chia products added to frankfurters affect quality and shelf life
What it found
Adding chia seeds, flour or a cold-press coproduct to frankfurters improved their nutritional composition and slowed oxidation during chilled storage, with all versions judged acceptable in sensory tests.
What they found
Nutritional boost
Adding 3% chia products improved the nutritional composition of the frankfurters without harming their technological properties.
Sensory acceptability
Sensory differences were found in frankfurters with chia, mostly when the chia coproduct was used, but all were judged acceptable.
Oxidation during storage
Chia products gave better resistance to oxidation during chilled storage, controlling the rise in TBARS. The authors suggest this is because of chia's polyphenol content.
Residual nitrite
Frankfurters with chia had lower residual nitrite levels than the control during chilled storage, which the authors also link to chia polyphenols.
Microbiological safety
Chia products had no effect on microbiological safety during chilled storage.
What the authors conclude
- They conclude that chia products can enhance the nutritional composition of frankfurters without adversely affecting technological properties.
- They report that all reformulated frankfurters were judged acceptable.
- They note that these strategies had beneficial effects on some technological properties during chilled storage.
How it was done
Scientists made frankfurters with 3% chia seeds, chia flour or a chia coproduct left over from cold-press oil extraction. They measured nutritional composition, technological properties and sensory attributes, and tracked lipid oxidation, pH, residual nitrite and microbiological properties during chilled storage.
What it can’t tell you
- We summarised it from the abstract only.
- This study looked only at frankfurters, not at other foods or at health effects in people.
- It does not show whether eating chia frankfurters affects human health.
Who paid
- Authors work at
- Miguel Hernández University, Spain; Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA-CSIC), Spain
The paper
- Title
- Chia (Salvia hispanica L.) products as ingredients for reformulating frankfurters: Effects on quality properties and shelf-life
- Type
- Study
- Summarised from
- Abstract only
- Cite
- Fernández-López J, Lucas-González R, Viuda-Martos M, et al (2019). Chia (Salvia hispanica L.) products as ingredients for reformulating frankfurters: Effects on quality properties and shelf-life. Meat science. doi:10.1016/j.meatsci.2019.05.028PubMed 31158600DOI
Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error