Selbeş, Esra Bostancı; Şahin, Özlem; Vural, Halil

This study investigated the effects of melocan leaf extract (ME), obtained by supercritical carbon dioxide (Sc-CO2) extraction, on the quality characteristics of beef meatballs during cold storage (0, 3, 6, and 9 days). ME was incorporated at three levels (0.1 %, 0.5 %, 1 % – marked as ME0.1, ME0.5 and ME1). The results showed that the use of ME significantly delayed lipid oxidation in beef meatballs during cold storage (p < 0.05). While the thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) value reached 2.46 mg·kg-1 malonaldehyde (MA) in the control group, the meatballs with no ME content, the TBARS values of ME0.1, ME0.5 and ME1 reached 1.39, 0.92, and 1.00 mg·kg-1 MA, respectively. As the extract content increased, the lightness L* and redness a* values of the meatballs decreased (p < 0.05). ME effectively inhibited lipid oxidation and increased the antioxidant capacity in beef meatballs, without significantly affecting total mesophilic aerobic bacteria and total mould and yeast counts (p > 0.05). In terms of sensory evaluation scores, the group containing 0.1 % ME was the closest to the control group, and since it considerably prevented lipid oxidation even at this level, the use of 0.1 % ME in beef meatballs is recommended.