Spaghetti is a high carbohydrate food with little protein. There is an increasing demand by consumers to have more protein in their diets. Protein is generally viewed positively in promoting general health, weight management and maintaining lean muscle mass. In fact nowadays, high protein claims are appearing on everything from breakfast cereals to chilled food products. In this study, we developed spaghetti with added proteins from lamb meat and fiber rich navy beans to produce a product with higher nutritional value. The study aims to characterize and evaluate physicochemical and sensory properties of the reformulated spaghetti containing lamb meat and navy bean. Our hypothesis is that addition of meat and navy bean will improve the nutritional value of pasta with improved physicochemical and sensory properties as well. In our study, spaghetti formulations with added meat emulsion (40g, 50g, 60g and 70g) containing (28%, 36%, 43% and 50%) actual meat and navy bean powder (7%, 14% and 21%) were developed. All samples were then evaluated for their physical, nutritional and sensory properties.

Spaghetti samples with 36%, 43% and 50% meat had significantly higher fat and protein content. Spaghetti containing meat and bean had a noticeable impact on the cooking quality of pasta with increased cooked weight, lower cooking time, higher swelling index and higher cooking loss. Increased incorporation of meat significantly increased the redness and decreased the lightness of cooked spaghetti samples. Addition of meat significantly increased the tensile strength, extensibility and elasticity of the spaghetti samples as compared to addition of bean. Samples were then subjected to consumer testing and sensory projective mapping. All samples were significantly preferred in terms of overall liking, odor, texture and flavor except for samples containing high bean content (14% and 21%) and the highest meat sample (50%M). The product and attribute maps obtained from projective mapping separated the commercial samples from the other samples in terms of texture and taste. Spaghetti prepared with 36% meat, 50% meat, 43% meat 7% bean, and 50% meat 7% bean were associated with meaty taste, smooth mouth feel, soft, chewy and good texture.

Our results showed that spaghetti with added meat and bean was an ideal vehicle to deliver good nutrition. In fact some of the reformulated spaghetti containing a combination of meat and bean had improved physical, nutritional and sensory properties. This high protein spaghetti can be used as go-to meal for health conscious people. The reformulated spaghetti may also address the nutrition concerns for the aging populations as well as children with positive implications on human health.