IMPACT OF LYCOPENE AND PINE BARK EXTRACT AS NITRITE REPLACERS ON SAUSAGE QUALITY

Huda Elsayed*, Diaa Eldin Ezzat Hussein, Ahmed M. Mostafa, Nashwa M. Zaki and Khalid Tolba

ABSTRACT

Recently, there has been increasing worry about the integrity of additives used to extend food products' shelf-life. For that, lycopene, as a natural phytochemical compound, has attracted attention, as it has many advantages; it has been proven to be a likely alternative to traditional chemical or synthetic antioxidants, improving the health status when used in food preservation as a natural product. Therefore, this research introduces lycopene currently used as an antioxidant in foods, as a naturally occurring form, it also provides the effects of lycopene in the preservation of sausage when used alone or insemination with other additives such as pine-park as well as with chemical preservatives as nitrite. Lycopene positively affects color scores in the sensory evaluation of foods in studies that have been conducted. This may be attributed to the inherent color properties of lycopene, which is dark red at high concentrations (>100 ppm). The obtained results revealed that. In general, Group one (S1) which was treated with nitrite only, was fit for consumption till the 13th week of storage and became unfit at the 14th week. Group 2 (S2) samples treated with 60 ppm representing a mixture of pine bark extract and lycopene + 30 ppm nitrite) were sounds till the end of the experiment (15 weeks), while group 3 (S3) (sausage containing pine bark and Lycopene only), was significantly (P< 0.05) fit until the 14th week of storage after which it began to decompose. This means that S2 was the best treated group, followed by S3 and finally S1.

Keywords: Lycopene – Pine Bark – Nitrite – Antioxidant – Antibacterial – Sausage.