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Meat and meat products, apart from being highly nutritious, comes with several health risk factors as they are also high in saturated fatty acids which can trigger various health issues. This can be modified functionally by incorporating various herbs, spices, fruits and vegetables that has functional properties benefiting the human health. Attempt has been made in this study to investigate the benefits ofincorporation of two such functional ingredients, viz., Chinese chives and perilla seeds to pork sausage. The resultant products were analyzed forproximate composition, biochemical properties and sensory attributes. Storage study was conducted and evaluated based on five parameters, viz., pH, WHC, Cooking loss, Cooking yield and Shrinkage percentage. Addition of functional ingredients has improved the sensory attributes and enhanced the antioxidant capacity and physiochemical properties of the product. Improved texture of pork sausage with functional herbs has led to decreased cooking loss and shrinkage percentage and increased cooking yield and WHC. Commercialization of these functional meat products will create a better market opportunity and benefit the consumers in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coix lacryma-jobi L. is a minor millet and an underutilized crop native to Asia that is of paramount importance in food and medicine. In India, the crop is mainly grown in the northeastern hill region for food, medicine, beverage, and fodder purposes. Genetic information on edible Job’s tears and wild relatives still needs improvement. Therefore, the study focused on characterizing 65 accessions of Job’s tears, including landraces and wild types collected from the northeastern hill region of India, using 20 morphological traits, three biochemical traits, and 16 SSR markers. Based on grain yield data, JTN11 and IC89392 were the most promising accessions. Biochemical analysis recorded IC417053, JTN3, and IC89393 as having the highest phenol content, antioxidant capacity, and flavonoid content, respectively. Principal component analysis showed that traits, namely, total phenol content, leaf length, spikelet/plant, brace root, and seed yield/plant, have significantly contributed to the diversity. In molecular characterization with SSR primers, 62 alleles were generated, with an average of 3.87 alleles per locus. The effective number of alleles detected varied from 1.17 (GBssrJT32) to 4.23 (GBssrJT198). Two alleles were found unique to wild accessions, underscoring the importance of preserving these varieties for future research and breeding. Based on the UPGMA dendrogram, IC416868, IC521338, IC417053, IC419466, IC540173, IC540281, IC89387, IC89393, and JTN3 were identified as diverse accessions. The high level of genetic diversity assessed in this study emphasizes the importance of the Indian NEH region for conserving Job’s tears germplasm. The observed pattern of genetic variations may be used to develop the breeding strategy in Job’s tears. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]