Antioxidant Effect of Litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) Seed Extract on Raw Ground Chicken Meat Stored at 4 ± 1 °C

In this study, total phenolics (TP), trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC), reducing power (RP) and 2, 2-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity (SA) were estimated in litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) seed extracts (LSE). The antioxidant potential of the LSE in raw chicken ground meat (GM) during refrigerated (4 ± 1 °C) storage was also evaluated. In the LSE, TP and TEAC were 7.30 ± 0.06 mg TAE/gdw and 42.26 ± 0.28 mg TE/gdw respectively. The LSE also showed remarkable SA (56.07 ± 0.51%) and RP. Addition of LSE to GM significantly altered the cooking losses, water holding capacity and pH of GM. During storage (4 °C), the thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) values were observed significantly (P < 0.01) more (1.32 ± 0.03 mg malonaldehyde/kg) in the control than the treated samples; and the antioxidant efficacy was more in vacuum packaged than aerobically packaged GM samples. Thus, LSE prevents lipid oxidation in meat, and could be used in place of synthetic antioxidants, which have been proved for their negative health implications.