Effect of Emblica officinalis fruit extracts on the storage quality of pork meatballs under refrigerated storage

The present work aimed to evaluate the effects of the supplementation of E. officinalis fruit extracts on the biochemical properties, antioxidant capacities, antimicrobial activities, and sensory attributes of pork meatballs under refrigerated storage at 4°C for 18 days. The meatball samples were divided into eight formulations including control, 0.02% butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), 0.2% distilled water and ethanolic extracts, 0.4% distilled water and ethanolic extracts, and 0.8% distilled water and ethanolic extracts. Aqueous fruit extract exhibited higher antioxidant activity ranging from 34.30 to 75.59%, with IC50 9.74 μg/mL as compared to the other extracts. These findings were in accordance with the highest total phenolic (1,550.22 mg GAE/g extract) and flavonoid (19.35 mg CE/g extract) contents of distilled water crude extract, followed by methanolic extract, ethanolic extract, and acetonic extract, respectively. The meatballs supplemented with both ethanolic and aqueous extracts showed higher antioxidant activity than control and BHT samples, particularly at the highest concentration of 0.8%. Similarly, the lowest TBARS values were observed in the samples with 0.8% ethanolic extracts ranging from 0.08 - 0.45 mg MDA/kg of sample. In contrast, the meatballs supplemented with aqueous extracts yielded the lowest microbial counts of 1.94 - 4.90 log CFU/g in comparison with the samples supplemented with ethanolic extracts. This was in agreement with the lowest MIC and MBC values of aqueous crude extracts (3.98 mg/mL) against all the tested foodborne pathogens. Based on sensory analysis, supplementing the pork meatballs with either ethanolic or aqueous extracts resulted in decreased sensory attributes in a concentration-dependent manner. E. officinalis fruit extracts could have an impact on unpleasant sensory characteristics in the meatballs with increasing levels of supplementation.