EFFECT OF GAC FRUIT POWDER ON QUALITY AND NITROSATION ACTIVITY OF MEAT PRODUCT

Abstract

Nitrite is important for meat product quality especially for color stabilization. However, toxicity of nitrite according to nitrosation reaction raises interest of many researchers. To improve the quality and safety of meat product, nitrite was substituted with freeze dried gac fruit aril (GP). Frankfurters were produced with the combination of 50-150 mg/kg sodium nitrite and 0-4% GP and stored at 4ËšC. Color, pH and lipid oxidation (thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, TBARS) were determined weekly for 4 weeks whereas sensorial qualities were evaluated after cold storage at 4ËšC for one day. Aqueous determination of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) content was carried out by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) at day zero before and after a two-step in vitro digestion. The results showed that replacement of nitrite with GP caused slightly increase in pH of frankfurter in a concentration dependent manner and falling of pH values were observed after 21 days storage. TBARS values also elevated but only when the highest level of GP (4%) was employed and storage time reached 28 days. Moreover, GP resulted in declining of L* (lightness) and greater of a* (redness) and b* (yellowness) values of frankfurter which these were paralleled with increasing of color acceptability score evaluated by panelists. These color values were unchanged throughout storage period at 4% GP content. Finally, NDMA only occurred after in vitro digestion and tended to increase in the presence of GP. It can be concluded that GP successfully improved color stability and acceptability of frankfurter. However, over dose of GP incorporation (4%) led to increasing of lipid oxidation and nitrosation reaction.