DEVELOPMENT OF A VEGAN SAUSAGE WITH YOUNG GREEN JACKFRUIT, OYSTER MUSHROOM, AND COCONUT FLOUR AS AN ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY PRODUCT WITH CLEANER PRODUCTION APPROACH

Abstract

Veganism or vegetarianism is a trending topic in the modern world. Natural disasters, climate change, and pandemics lead people towards healthier and plant-based diets and nature-friendly lifestyle. Higher meat consumption has led the world into a huge struggle resulting in global warming, rising sea levels, disease spreading like swine flu, bird flu, coronavirus, etc. The main objective of this research was to develop a socially responsible vegan product, minimizing its environmental impact with a cleaner production approach. Generally, many vegan products are produced using soy as the main ingredient, but it is the second-largest agricultural driver of deforestation globally. Currently, there are no significant studies done on vegan product development considering the environmental impact and cleaner production. Concerning all these objectives, this vegan sausage was developed with young green jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus), and coconut flour (Cocos nucifera Lin.) as main ingredients. This product was subjected to sensory evaluation, proximate analysis using AOAC and SLS methods, and microbiological analysis. The moisture, ash, total fat, crude protein, and crude fibre contents of the product were 64.49 ± 0.16%, 2.62 ± 0.18%, 5.94 ± 0.25%, 3.95 ± 0.30% and 1.22 ± 0.16% respectively. Total carbohydrate value and energy profiles were 21.78 ± 0.38% and 156.3 kcal/100 g calculated according to the Codex Guideline on Nutrition Labelling. Following a cleaner production approach helped to identify that it is more environmentally friendly using electricity than LPG in Sri Lanka for this kind of product development and to reduce the total CO₂ emission per kg of vegan sausage from 0.678 kg CO₂/kg to 0.477 kg CO₂/kg.