The effect of fenugreek seeds addition on selected quality characteristics of hamburgers

The incorporation of plant-derived functional ingredients into meat products has attracted increasing interest. However, information on the effects of different inclusion levels of crushed fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) seeds on the technological and sensory quality of beef hamburgers remains limited. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the influence of fenugreek seeds on the technological, physicochemical, textural and sensory characteristics of beef hamburgers.

Four variants of hamburgers were produced, i.e. a control one (without the addition of fenugreek seeds), and three variants of hamburgers differing in the content of fenugreek seeds, i.e. 1%, 2% and 3%. The addition of fenugreek seeds significantly reduced weight losses during refrigerated storage of raw hamburgers (from 1.02% for the control sample to 0.34% for 2% fenugreek addotion, p < 0.05) and during thermal processing (from 38.5% to 25.8% respectively, p < 0.05). No significant differences were observed in pH, water activity, thermal shrinkage or most instrumental colour parameters. Instrumental texture was only moderately affected, although cohesiveness decreased in all fortified samples, while burgers containing ≥2% fenugreek showed lower springiness, chewiness and cutting force after storage (p < 0.05). Sensory evaluation demonstrated that fenugreek addition increased the intensity of its characteristic aroma and flavour, whereas inclusion levels of ≥2% significantly reduced meaty flavour intensity and overall desirability (from 8.3 to 4.9 points, p < 0.05). In contrast, burgers containing 1% fenugreek maintained acceptable sensory quality while exhibiting improved technological performance.

These findings indicate that the effects of crushed fenugreek seeds are dose-dependent. Under the conditions of this study, the incorporation of 1% crushed fenugreek seeds provided the best balance between improved technological properties and consumer-relevant sensory quality.