Effects of Moringa oleifera Lam. leaves extract on physicochemical, fatty acids profile, oxidative stability, microbiological and sensory properties of chicken mortadella

The present study investigates the effect of Moringa oleifera Lam. leaf hydroalcoholic extract at four levels on the shelf-life and quality of chicken mortadella. The extracts showed phenolic compounds content of 1333.84 mg GAE/ml and antioxidant activity of EC50 of 12.43 mg extract/ml. The different mortadella formulations were characterized according to approximate composition, fatty acids profile, microbiological, sensory, and lipid oxidation analyses. The results showed no significant difference for approximate composition, pH, A(w), color, fatty acids profile, and lipid oxidation analysis between the formulations and during the storage. The control sample without M. oleifera showed more hardness and the microbiology results showed that the extract was efficient in all samples. In sensory analysis, none of the formulations presented were rejected by the panelists. Results showed that it is possible to produce a safer chicken mortadella with less synthetic antioxidants, maintaining the quality of the product using 0.25% of natural antioxidants. Practical applications In order to prevent lipid oxidation in meat products, the industries generally use synthetic antioxidants to ensure greater durability of their products, but the use of synthetic antioxidants can bring harm for the health of consumers. Thus, currently industries are studying the replacement of these substances by natural extracts containing antioxidants. One of the alternatives is to use leaves of Moringa oleifera Lam. extracts. This study demonstrated the effectiveness of the Moringa oleifera leaf extract in the conservation of mortadella, preventing microbial contamination and lipid oxidation for up to 120 days under refrigeration.