Antioxidant and antimicrobial effects of garlic in chicken sausage

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2004.04.001 Get rights and content

Abstract

The antioxidant and antimicrobial effects of equivalent concentrations of fresh garlic (FG), garlic powder (GP) and garlic oil (GO) were investigated against lipid oxidation and microbial growth in raw chicken sausage during storage at 3°C. The antioxidant activities were compared to that of a standard synthetic antioxidant; butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA). The initial mean levels of thiobarbituric acid (TBA) value and peroxide value (POV) were 0.140 and 6.32, respectively. However after 21 days of storage, TBA and POV ranged from 0.151 to 4.92, respectively, in FG (50 g/kg) formulated samples to 0.214 and 8.64, respectively, in GO (0.06 g/kg) formulation. Addition of either garlic or BHA (0.1 g/kg) significantly delayed lipid oxidation when compared with control. The antioxidant activities of the various materials added followed the order FG>GP>BHA>GO. On the other hand, the initial aerobic plate count (APC) in the samples was 4.41 log10 CFU/g. Addition of FG (30 g/kg) or GP (9 g/kg) significantly reduced the APC and, subsequently, the shelf-life of the product was extended to 21 days. However, addition of GO or BHA resulted in no significant difference in APC when compared with control. Sensory analysis indicated that FG had a significant stronger flavor than the other sausage formulations. The results suggest that fresh garlic and garlic powder, through their combined antioxidant and antimicrobial effects, are potentially useful in preserving meat products.

Introduction

Chicken meat and its products have experienced increasing popularity and become widely spread all over the world. Chicken sausage is one of the popular foodstuffs among these products (Barbut, 2001). However during storage, quality attributes of the product deteriorate due to lipid oxidation and microbial growth. Lipids oxidation is responsible for reduction in nutritional quality as well as changes in flavor (Aguirrezábal, Mateo, Domı́nguez, & Zumalacárregui, 2000), while microbial contamination can precipitate major public health hazards and economic loss in terms of food poisoning and meat spoilage. Thus, application of suitable agents possessing both antioxidant and antimicrobial activities may be useful for maintaining meat quality, extending shelf-life and preventing economic loss (Yin & Cheng, 2003). Much research has indicated that lipid oxidation and microbial growth in meat products can be controlled or minimized by using either synthetic or natural food additives (Gray, Gomaa, & Buckley, 1996; Lee, Williams, Sloan, & Littell, 1997; Mielnik, Aaby, & Skrede, 2003). Various synthetic antioxidants, such as butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) or butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), are commonly used to delay the development of rancidity in food products (Martinez-Tome et al., 2001; Ohshima, Yankah, Ushio, & Kiozumi, 1998). However, consumers are concerned about the safety of synthetic food additives. This concern has led to arouse a great interest in natural additives (Pokorný, 1991). Natural agents possessing antioxidant and antimicrobial properties have the advantage of being readily accepted by consumers, as they are considered natural.

Garlic is one of the most commonly used ingredients as a flavor enhancement for sausage. In addition to flavoring the foods, garlic is appreciated for its medicinal properties. Garlic has a wide spectrum of actions; not only antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal and antiprotozoal, but also has beneficial effects on the cardiovascular and immune systems (Harris, Cottrell, Plummer, & Lloyd, 2001). During the last decade, the antimicrobial activity of garlic and garlic-derived organosulfur compounds was widely investigated against both food spoilage bacteria and food-borne pathogens (Leuschner & Ielsch, 2003; Naidu, 2000; Unal et al., 2001). Besides its antimicrobial effect, garlic showed effective antioxidant activity in vivo and in vitro (Jackson et al., 2002; Prasad, Laxdal, Yu, & Raney, 1995). Garlic-rich organosulfur compounds and their precursors (allicin, diallyl sulfide and diallyl trisulfide) are believed to play a key role in these biological effects (Ankri & Mirelman, 1999; Kumar & Berwal, 1998).

To date, most previous studies have focused independently on either antioxidant or antimicrobial activities of garlic in meat products, and the objective of the present study was to investigate the antioxidant as well as the antimicrobial effectiveness of three garlic preparations, i.e. fresh, powder and oil at various concentrations, in preserving raw chicken sausage during refrigerated storage.

Section snippets

Materials

Fresh garlic (FG) bulbs (Allium sativum, var. Chinese white garlic) were purchased from a local market. The dry skins of the bulb were removed before use; then the cloves were peeled and crushed finely by using a kitchen hand held grater. Garlic powder (GP) was purchased from Daiichi Foods Company (Daiichi Pharmaceutical, Japan). According to the manufacturer data, 3 kg of produced GP is weight equivalent to 10 kg of FG.

Garlic oil (GO) was prepared in the laboratory by steam distillation (Chen et

Composition and pH value

The moisture, protein and fat contents (g/100 g) in the control sausage were 71.3±1.23, 16.4±0.57 and 7.98±0.31, respectively. Addition of the different garlic forms did not cause any significant changes in these contents (data not shown).

The initial pH value ranged from 6.65 (in control samples) to 6.78 (in FG-formulated samples). In all sausage formulations, storage had a significant (P<0.05) effect on the pH values, which tended to increase with storage time. However, after 21 days of storage

Conclusion

This study concluded that fresh garlic, garlic powder and garlic oil provide antioxidant and antimicrobial benefits to raw chicken sausage during cold storage (3°C) and the effects are concentration dependent. Among the garlic forms studied, fresh garlic at a concentration of 50 g/kg sausage demonstrated the most potent effect, but such a high concentration may not be acceptable by many people because of its strong flavor. However, addition of fresh garlic at 30 g/kg or garlic powder at 9 g/kg,

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dhanapati Neupany and Jin-bo Kim for their assistance. We also thank Prof. Nell Kennedy, Rakuno Gakuen University, for critical reading of the manuscript.

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    Present address. Department of Food Science, Faculty of Dairy Science, Rakuno Gakuen University, Ebetsu, Hokkaido 069-8501, Japan.

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