Sea buckthorn berries - the new natural preservative

In recent research, these powerful extracts were found to be stable after cooking and maintained the quality of chicken and turkey meat after six days of storage, according to scientists from the Estonian University of Life Sciences in the journal Food Chemistry.

"It is safe to say that the processing residue of sea buckthorn juice is a good functional supplement to mechanically deboned meat or hand deboned meat products, guaranteeing inhibition of the oxidation of fatty acids as well as enriching the meat products with plant-derived health-beneficial polyphenols," stated lead author Tonu Pussa, adding that the optimal 2% supplement of berry powder does not deteriorate the organoleptic properties like taste, flavour or texture of the patties prepared from the poultry MDM.

Natural alternative

These extracts from the berry could be a natural alternative to artificial additives, such as butylhydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylhydroxytoluene (BHT).

The researchers used the juice-free solid residue of sea buckthorn berries to produce extracts for use as preservatives in the meat. The extracts, containing mostly flavonols, were added at 1, 2 and 4% concentrations to MDM chicken and turkey.

Using the 2-thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) test as a measure of oxidation, Pussa and co-workers report a dose-dependent inhibition of the oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids in both meats. During storage, about 50% of the antioxidants were lost in the turkey from oxidation, while a much smaller loss was observed in the case of chicken MDM.

"The concentration of 2% is probably optimal for the sea buckthorn supplement in both chicken and even in the highly oxidated turkey MDM," wrote the researchers.

"A lower content of polyphenols is not sufficient to guarantee complete inhibition of the fatty acid oxidation and leaving of part of the added antioxidant polyphenols still in the composition. A still higher content of the plant material may reduce the organoleptic properties of the patties made from the MDM."