Physicochemical and sensory characteristics of chicken nugget with curcuma (Curcuma zanthorrhiza) flour fortification

Loss of weight and appetite are significant concerns for many parents with toddlers and preschoolers as poor or 'picky' eaters. The combination of healthy yet delicious food for kids is greatly needed to cope this problem. One of them is providing chicken nugget with nutritional content such as curcumin which is able to boost the children appetite. This experiment was conducted to find out the effect of curcuma flour fortification on physicochemical and sensory characteristics of chicken nugget. Five formulations were developed: 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2 (w/w) of filler. The chicken nugget was characterized for their physical, chemical, and sensory characteristics. Curcuma flour fortification did not affect the water holding capacity, tenderness, protein, and fat contents of chicken nugget (P>0.05), but increased the vitamin E and curcumin contents of chicken nugget (P<0.05). Sensory characteristic test results showed that the fortification of curcuma flour did not affect acceptability in the sensory characteristic of chicken nugget. In conclusion, chicken nugget with curcuma flour fortification at the level of 2.0 showed the best characteristic of the chicken nugget.