Antioxidative Effect and the Acceptability of Chiken Meatball Added with Aloe vera Gel

Currently, the consumption of broiler-chicken meat increases up to 3.7510 kg/cap/year. This condition is due to the increasing of population growth and food businesses which use chicken meat. On the other hand, the chicken meat contains of high fat, thus easily oxidized and resulted in free radicals and off- flavor. Chicken meat is widely used as meatball that is processed through the stage of meat-milling and boiling which triggers fat oxidation. Therefore, an antioxidant is needed to inhibit oxidation. Aloevera contains flavonoid compounds that could scavange free radicals. The objective of this research was to optimize the addition of aloe vera gel in the chicken meatball to obtain high antioxidant effect and acceptable product. Considering its high water content (> 98%), in this study aloe vera gel was added as an ice-substitution in the making of meatball. The meatballs were made by mixing of 250 g chicken meat with 125 g tapioca for each sample, seasoning (salt, pepper, garlic), and added ice with water/a/oe vera gel ratio (g/g) of 100/0; 85/15; 70/30; 55/45 and 40/60. The doughs were molded in ball-shape then boiled at 90 degrees C for 10 minutes. The meatballs were subjected to analysis of moisture content, the ability to scavenge of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical or radical scavenging activity(RSA), acid, peroxide and thyobarbituric acid (TBA) number, physical properties including water holding capacity (WHC), cooking loss, and texture (softness, chewiness and deformation) as well as acceptability by hedonic test. The results showed that the highest acceptability and antioxidative activity of meatballs was obtained in meatball with the ratio of water/gel between 55/45-40/60 (g/g). This aforementioned meatball had softer texture and likely chewiness. The percentage of the WHC and cooking loss were not significantly different, but it had high RSA and lowest value of acid, peroxide and TBA numbers.