Grape seed extract – a natural antioxidant for chicken meat

According to research published in the Journal of Food Science, adding 0.1% of the extract to ground chicken meat reduced the lipid oxidation in processed meat that can lead to the formation of off-odours.

“This study shows that GSE is an effective antioxidant in ground chicken thigh meat that does not affect moisture content or pH during storage, inhibits TBARS formation, helps to mitigate the pro-oxidative effects of NaCl, and may alter the effect of NaCl on protein solubility in salted chicken patties,” says Robert Brannan from the School of Human and Consumer Sciences at Ohio University.

The grape seed extract could be a natural alternative to artificial additives, such as like butylhydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylhydroxytoluene (BHT).

Brennan prepared the ground meat with 0.1% grape seed extract (Gravinol-S) and in the presence or absence of salt (1% NaCl), and subsequently refrigerated at 59, 76, 88, and 99 relative humidity for as long as 12 days.

At the end of this, the level of lipid oxidation – measured using the thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) assay – was affected by the degree of humidity across all the groups, as well as salt content.

“Ground chicken thigh patties treated with 0.1% GSE with or without NaCl (0.54 and 0.72 micromol/kg, respectively) exhibited significantly lower TBARS values than the control (1.35 micromol/kg) while patties treated with NaCl alone (1.90 micromol/kg) exhibited significantly increased TBARS values compared to the untreated control,” stated Brennan.

“As promising as these results are, additional research will be required to determine how the physicochemical interactions of GSE reported in this study and previous studies affect important cooked meat quality attributes (colour, texture, flavour) and nutritional quality, especially in regard to the level, form, and health-promoting functionality of residual GSE in the meat after processing,” concluded Brannan.

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