Recently, research has proven that food products containing chemical preservatives have a harmful effect on health and cause major health risks, so it was necessary to provide a safe alternative for consumers, and this is why the demand by consumers for food products free from harmful chemical preservatives has increased and one of these products is shrimp popcorn. Replacing chemical preservatives with natural ones is not an easy thing, so the food industry is highly interested in studying natural extracts well, studying their activity as antioxidants and antimicrobials, and evaluating their efficiency in preserving new food products while maintaining product quality and consumer preferences. Thus, the aim of the study was to evaluate two plant extracts (ginger and rosemary) and study their effects on the shelf life and quality of the shrimp popcorn product. Three different concentrations (0.02, 0.2, and 0.5%) of both aqueous ginger and rosemary extracts were applied to shrimp popcorn and their impact on shelf life was assessed through determination of TBARS, DNPH, TVB-N, TMA, PV, pH value, WHC, aerobic plate count, coliform count, yeast and mold count and compared with negative control and positive control (BHT) through a storage period of 12 days and at 4°C. The treatment with aqueous extract of ginger and rosemary showed a results superior to that of the synthetic preservative with a lower TBARS value, carbonyl content, total volatile basic nitrogen, Tri-methylamine value, peroxide value and aerobic plate count at 12 days of storage with mean values of (1.50, 0.95, 1.02, 0.85, 0.79, 0.91, 0.61 and 0.53 mg MDA/Kg), (19.31, 10.52, 15.61, 11.28, 8.39, 10.65, 7.32, and 4.51 nmol carbonyl content/mg protein), (39.48, 31.52, 35.41, 20.22, 13.45, 23.27, 12.38, and 9.15 mg/100 g), (12.38, 10.38, 11.45, 6.85, 2.31, 9.31, 3.20, and 1.56 mg/kg), (25.71, 16.37, 19.65, 15.90, 13.37, 17.18, 11.68, and 9.01 mg/100g muscle), and (3.8x105, 2.2x104, 3.5x104, 2.1x103, 3.3x103, 2.5x104, 2.1x103, and 1.5x103 CFU/g) respectively for (negative control, positive control (BHT), 0.02%GE, 0.2%GE, 0.5%GE, 0.02%RE, 0.2%RE, 0.5%RE). These findings show that the ginger extract at the level of 0.2 and 0.5% and rosemary extract at level of 0.2 and 0.5% were very effective against lipid and protein oxidation, and a powerful antimicrobial in shrimp popcorn product and promising natural antioxidant and antimicrobial replacing the chemical preservatives in food processing.
Key words: Shrimp popcorn, Ginger, Rosemary, Antioxidant, Antimicrobial, Shelf life
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