The fact that public health is moving towards a proactive approach in combating chronic diseases through diet and lifestyle changes and consumer demands are shifting towards health-promoting foods, creates a necessity in expansion of the functional foods market. Meat being a versatile and widely consumed food can be an excellent matrix for the addition of functional ingredients.

The proposed experiment was aimed at examining how the addition of fermented tomato powder and inner pea fiber to ground beef affects cooking loss, texture, color, as well as nutritional value of the meat product. Ground beef patties were supplemented with 10% and 20% previously fermented tomato powder with Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus casei used as starter cultures. Inner pea fiber in 1% concentration was also added to the patties. Physicochemical and microbiological analyses were performed on the final product.

The addition of lacto-fermented tomato powder and inner pea fiber to ground beef patties will help food scientists understand whether the addition of functional ingredients to meat lead to safer, healthier and marketable food products and will in turn help the dietetic professionals to recommend those types of healthy products to the consumers.

It is anticipated that the addition of lacto-fermented tomato powder and inner pea fiber to ground beef will reduce cooking loss, improve texture and color, as well as enhance nutritional value of the meat product.