Cost economics of fibre-enriched chicken meat chips incorporated with apple pomace

Introduction

Meat is a nutrient-dense food that provides high-quality protein, essential amino acids, Bcomplex vitamins, and highly bioavailable minerals such as iron and zinc, making it an important component of a balanced human diet (Sheffield et al., 2024) [8] . Rapid urbanization, changing lifestyles, and increasing consumer preference for convenient readyto-eat (RTE) foods have accelerated the demand for value-added meat products with enhanced nutritional quality, longer shelf life, and improved market acceptability (Dominguez-Nino et al., 2020) [2] . Compared with conventional cereal-based snacks, meatbased snacks offer superior protein quality and greater bioavailability of essential nutrients, making them an attractive alternative for health-conscious consumers (Shankaran & Kumari, 2024; Park et al., 2026) [7,6] . Chicken meat chips are an emerging category of high-protein snack products owing to their desirable sensory characteristics, low carbohydrate content, ambient storage stability, and ease of packaging and transportation. The continuous growth of the Indian poultry sector, which produced approximately 5.15 million tonnes of poultry meat during 2024-25, accounting for nearly 49% of the country's total meat production, provides a reliable and economical raw material base for the manufacture of value-added poultry products (BAHS, 2025) [1] . Furthermore, chicken meat is relatively inexpensive, widely accepted across different consumer groups, and readily adaptable to diversified processed products (Katiyo et al., 2020) [4] . The economic sustainability of processed meat products depends not only on product quality but also on production efficiency, ingredient cost, processing yield, packaging, and storage stability (Naseem et al., 2024) [5] . Incorporation of low-cost functional ingredients derived from agro-industrial by-products offers an effective strategy to improve both nutritional value and cost efficiency. Apple pomace, a by-product of the juice processing industry, is a rich source of soluble and insoluble dietary fibre, phenolic compounds, and natural antioxidants, and has attracted considerable attention as a sustainable functional ingredient in meat products (Gracey & Tako, 2025) [3] . Its incorporation can partially replace costly meat without compromising product quality, improve cooking yield and moisture retention, enhance dietary fibre content, and contribute to the valorization of fruit processing waste, thereby reducing production costs and environmental burden. Packaging also plays a significant role in the commercial viability of meat snacks (Dominguez-Nino et al., 2020) [2] . Vacuum packaging minimizes lipid oxidation, pigment degradation, and microbial growth, thereby preserving product quality, extending shelf life, reducing storage losses, and improving distribution efficiency (Singh et al., 2011) [9] . These advantages enhance product marketability and reduce economic losses during storage and transportation. Despite increasing interest in functional meat snacks, limited information is available regarding the economic feasibility of fibre-enriched chicken meat chips prepared using apple pomace. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to evaluate the production economics of chicken meat chips enriched with apple pomace, with emphasis on production cost, yield improvement, packaging efficiency, and commercial viability while ensuring acceptable quality and storage stability.

Materials and Methods

Source of Materials

Live broiler chickens (5-6 weeks of age) were procured from the University Livestock Farm, Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (LUVAS), Hisar, and slaughtered following the standard halal procedure at the Department of Livestock Products Technology. The dressed carcasses were deboned, trimmed of visible fat and connective tissue, packed in low-density polyethylene (LDPE) bags, and stored at -18±2 °C until further use. Prior to product preparation, the frozen meat was thawed overnight under refrigerated conditions (4±2 °C). Fresh apples were procured from the local fruit market of Hisar. After washing with potable water, juice was extracted to obtain apple pomace. The pomace was dried in a hot-air dryer at 55-60 °C, ground into a fine powder using an electrical grinder, packed in airtight containers, and stored at -18 °C until use. Eggs, sodium nitrite, sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP), common salt, vegetable oil, ginger, garlic, and other ingredients were purchased from the local market. Spice ingredients were cleaned, oven-dried (45±2 °C for 2 h), ground separately, blended according to the standardized formulation, and stored in airtight PET containers. Food-grade chemicals, analytical reagents, culture media, and standards used for physicochemical and microbiological analyses were procured from reputed suppliers, including HiMedia, Sigma-Aldrich, CDH, and Qualigens. LDPE pouches were used for aerobic packaging, whereas laminated vacuum pouches (Swiss Pac Pvt. Ltd., India) were used for vacuum packaging of chicken meat chips.

Results and Discussion

The cost of production of control and treated chicken meat chips was estimated based on prevailing market rates, incorporating both fixed and variable costs such as raw materials, labour, utilities, and depreciation to simulate commercial conditions (Table 1). A production capacity of 50 kg/day and annual processing of 15,000 kg deboned meat were assumed. The total capital investment was estimated at Rs. 2,19,770/-with an annual depreciation of Rs. 21,977/-. Raw material cost constituted the major share, with meat being the costliest component. Total annual expenditure was highest for control vacuum (Rs. 57,22,612/-) and lowest for treatment aerobic (Rs. 50,36,925/-). Treated products showed reduced cost due to partial replacement of meat with apple pomace, while vacuum packaging slightly increased cost. The cost of production per kg (Table 3) varied among treatments, with control aerobic showing the highest cost (Rs. 1112/kg) and treatment vacuum the lowest (Rs. 820/kg). Incorporation of apple pomace significantly reduced production cost by partially replacing meat. Overall, treated products were more economical than controls, and vacuum packaging resulted in lower cost compared to aerobic packaging.

Conclusion

The incorporation of 13.93% apple pomace in chicken meat chips proved to be a cost-effective strategy for developing a value-added functional meat snack. Partial replacement of meat with apple pomace improved product yield and reduced overall production cost without compromising commercial feasibility. Although vacuum packaging incurred a slightly higher packaging cost, it enhanced shelf stability and product quality, thereby improving marketability and reducing storage losses. Overall, fibreenriched chicken meat chips incorporated with apple

Acknowledgement

International Journal of Advanced Biochemistry Research https://www.biochemjournal.com pomace offer a nutritionally improved, economically viable, and sustainable alternative for commercial production.

References

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