Improving meat quality through natural antioxidants

Abstract

Nowadays, consumers are demanding more natural foods, obliging the industry to include natural antioxidants in foods. Natural antioxidants have been used instead of synthetic antioxidants to retard lipid oxidation in foods to improve their quality and nutritional value. This review discusses some aspects of recent research on antioxidant activity of plant extracts and natural compounds to improve meat quality. Many herbs, spices, and their extracts have been reported as having high antioxidant capacity, such as some plants of the Lamiaceae family, e.g., oregano (Origanum vulgare L.), rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.), and sage (Salvia officinalis L.). The antioxidant activity of these plants is attributed to their phenolic compound content, which includes volatile compounds also known as essential oils. Several factors that cause some differences on the antioxidant activity of plant extracts include: type of solvent used during extraction, measurement method, and number of samples. Some studies have demonstrated that shelf-life and meat quality can be improved by using natural antioxidants in some stages of meat production. The main effects of these compounds are reducing microbial growth and lipid oxidation during storage. Nevertheless, more research is needed to determine antimicrobial activity of natural antioxidants in meat during storage, identify the main metabolic pathway of these compounds, and its effect on other meat quality parameters.

Breast meat quality of broilers fed fermented red ginseng marc powder mixed with red-koji during storage

“…Nevertheless, our findings did not support those of Fernandez-Lopez et al (2005), who claimed that using natural extracts applied to beef meatballs during storage had significant advantages. Previous studies have shown that the presence of natural antioxidants could retard the formation of metmyoglobin and have highly suppressive effects and decrease L* or increase a* values (Fernandez-Lopez et al, 2005;Velasco and Williams, 2011). In contrast, Kim et al (2014) suggested that the color of the thigh muscle was not affected by supplementation of broiler diets with increased levels of red ginseng marc.…”

Preservative effects of rosemary extract (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) on quality and storage stability of chicken meat patties

“…On meat industry they have been extensively used synthetic antioxidants (SA) such as butylatedhydroxyanisole (BHA), and butylatedhydroxytoluene (BHT) to prevent any oxidative changes (Monahan & Troy, 1997). However, because of the negative impression regarding the use of SA; natural antioxidants (NA) consider the suitable replacement (Velasco & Williams, 2011). Several research studies were reported possible carcinogenic and toxicological effects of the SA used in human foods (Altmann et al, 1986;Kumar et al, 2015).…”

Antioxidant activities of Moringa oleifera L. and Bidens pilosa L. leaf extracts and their effects on oxidative stability of ground raw beef during refrigeration storage

“…As natural antioxidant, plant extract can donate hydrogen ions to inhibit free radical formation and/or interrupt propagation of autoxidation in muscle food (Falowo, Fayemi, & Muchenje, 2014). As potential preservative agents, plant extract possesses huge bioactive compounds which are capable of disrupting and degrading the cytoplasmic membrane and cell wall of spoilage microorganisms (Kim, Cho, & Han, 2013;Radha Krishnan et al, 2014) and also improve the physicochemical qualities of processed meat products (Shah, Don Bosco, & Mir, 2015;Velasco & Williams, 2011).…”

“…To deal with these undesirable changes and reduce the use of synthetic preservatives, extracts from plant sources are added to meat and meat products as natural additives (Falowo et al, 2014;Velasco & Williams, 2011). Interestingly, extract from Moringaceae (Moringa oleifera Lam.)…”