There is a scarcity of protein of high biological value due to rapid increase in the world population and limited natural resources. Meat is a good source of protein of high biological value but converting the vegetable protein into animal protein is not economical. There is a trend of production of healthy and delicious meat free food for satisfaction of vegetarian and personal well beings. This resulted in increasing use of low cost vegetable protein such as textured soy protein, mushroom, wheat gluten, pulses etc as a substitute for animal-protein. These simulated meat-like products, with similar texture, flavor, color, and nutritive value can be substituted directly for meat to all sections of the society.

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Membrane technology has revolutionized the dairy sector. Different types of membranes are used in the industry for various purposes like extending the shelf life of milk without exposure to heat treatment, standardization of the major components of milk for tailoring new products as well increasing yield and quality of the dairy products, and concentrating, fractionation and purification of milk components especially valuable milk proteins in their natural state. In the cheese industry, membranes increase the yield and quality of cheese and control the whey volume, by concentrating the cheese milk. With the advancement of newer technology in membrane processes, it is possible to recover growth factor from whey. With the introduction of superior quality membranes as well as newer technology, the major limitation of membranes, fouling or blockage has been overcome to a greater extent.

The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of different levels of pumpkin on the quality characteristics of chicken sausages. The pumpkin was incorporated at three different levels viz. 6, 12 and 18 percent replacing lean meat in the formulation. The products were analyzed for various physicochemical and sensory attributes. pH, emulsion stability, cooking yield, crude protein, ether extract and ash content of the products showed significantly (p < 0.05) decreasing trend with increasing levels of incorporation of pumpkin however, there was a significant (p < 0.05) increase in the moisture and crude fibre content. Based on various parameters, 12 percent level of incorporation was optimized as best. Chicken sausages with optimum level of pumpkin along with control were aerobically packaged in LDPE pouches and assessed for storage quality under refrigerated (4 ± 1°C) conditions. The mean values of pH and all the sensory parameters showed significantly (p < 0.05) decreasing trend for both control as well as treatment samples whereas TBARS (mg malonaldehyde/kg) value, total plate count (log cfu/g) and yeast and mould count (log cfu/g) showed significantly (p < 0.05) increasing trend with storage. Coliforms (log cfu/g) were not detected throughout the period of storage. Thus, fibre enriched chicken sausages could be successfully stored for a period of 14 days at refrigeration temperature (4 ± 1°C) without any significant loss in quality.

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