Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Efficacy of Sapota Powder in Pork Patties Stored under Different Packaging Conditions

The present study was undertaken to assess the efficacy of sapota powder (SP) as natural preservatives and its better utilization in food processing with the incorporation of various levels of SP (2, 4, and 6%) by replacing lean meat. Based on the sensory attributes, pork patties with 4% incorporation of SP was found optimum and selected for further storage studies with control under aerobic and modified atmosphere packaging at refrigeration temperature (4 +/- 1 degrees C) for 42 days for assessing its antioxidant and antimicrobial efficiency. During entire storage period, indicators of lipid oxidative parameters such as thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), free fatty acids (FFA) and peroxide value (PV) followed an increasing trend for control as well as treated products; however, treated product showed a significantly (p<0.05) lower value than control. A significantly lower (p<0.05) microbial count in treated patties than control was noted during entire storage. The sensory attributes are better retained in treated product as compared to control and even on 42nd day, overall acceptability of treated patties was found to fall in moderately acceptable category (5.95 in aerobic packets and 5.91 in modified atmosphere packets). Therefore SP has potential to enhance antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of pork patties during storage.