January 24, 2008

Grape seed extract found to be natural antioxidant for chicken meat
 

A new research suggested that polyphenol-rich extracts from grape seed have potential as a natural antioxidant in chicken meat.

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

Robert Brannan from the School of Human and Consumer Sciences at Ohio University, said the study shows that grape seed extracts (GSE) is an effective antioxidant in ground chicken thigh meat that does not affect moisture content or pH during storage, restricts the formation of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), helps to lessen the pro-oxidative effects of NaCl (sodium chloride), and might alter NaCl's effect on protein solubility in salted chicken patties.

GSE could be a natural alternative to artificial additives such as butylhydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylhydroxytoluene (BHT).

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

At the end of this, the level of lipid oxidation was affected by the degree of humidity in all groups, as well as salt content.

Brennan stated that ground chicken patties treated with 0.1 percent GSE with or without NaCl exhibited much lower TBARS values while patties treated with only NaCl exhibited much higher TBARS values.

However, he said additional research will be required to determine how GSE can affect important cooked meat quality attributes and its nutritional quality, especially after processing.