https://doi.org/10.17113/ftb.63.03.25.8774

Article in press

Effect of Propolis on the Quality Characteristics and Shelf Life of Raw Beef Meatballs during Refrigerated Storage

Aslihan Cevik Ozkir¹, Ahmet Sukru Demirci¹, Harun Uran^2*, Recep Gunes², Berkay Kopuk³, and Bayram Cetin²

¹Tekirdağ Namık Kemal University, Faculty of Agriculture, Dept. of Food Engineering, 59030, Tekirdağ, Türkiye

²Kırklareli University, Faculty of Engineering, Dept. of Food Engineering, Kayalı Campus, 39000, Kırklareli, Türkiye

³Kırklareli University, Food R&D, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Application and Research Center, Kayalı Campus, 39000, Kırklareli, Türkiye

Copyright © 2024 This is a Diamond Open Access article published under CC-BY licence. Copyright remains with the authors, who grant third parties the unrestricted right to use, copy, distribute and reproduce the article as long as the original author(s) and source are acknowledged.

Article history:

Received: 12 July 2024

Accepted: 23 March 2025

Keywords:

meatball; propolis; quality; shelf life

Summary:

Research background. Recently, natural ingredients have come to the fore instead of synthetic additives used in various meat and meat products. In this context, the use of extracts prepared with different solvents of propolis, a natural bee product, is becoming quite widespread. From this perspective, this study aimed to determine the contribution of ethanolic extract of propolis on the shelf life of beef meatball samples and to investigate to what extent it maintains the quality properties of the samples during 4 °C storage.

Experimental approach. In the study, an ethanolic extract of propolis was added to meatball samples at different concentrations (0.1, 0.3, 0.5 and 1 %). After production, the samples were packaged and stored at 4 °C. During storage, the meatball samples were subjected to physicochemical, microbiological, and sensory analysis.

Results and conclusions. The addition of propolis did not significantly affect the water activity values, however, significantly lower pH values were observed at prolonged storage periods, especially in the samples containing higher propolis concentrations. The addition of propolis was also effective at delaying the oxidation and there was a concentration-dependent decrease in the TBARS values. The use of propolis in meatball production did not show a significant effect on the initial CIELab parameters of the samples, but changes in a* and b* values were detected compared to the control sample at the end of storage. It was observed that there was a significant increase in the total phenolic content, DPPH^• and ABTS⁺ radical scavenging activities of the meatballs depending on the propolis concentration. Considering the microbiological analysis results, it was determined that propolis could increase the microbiological quality of meatballs, but the addition of propolis at a concentration of more than 0.5 % affected the general acceptability of the samples.

Novelty and scientific contribution. As a result, propolis application in certain amounts was found a potential alternative to synthetic counterparts that could be used for the preservation of meatballs stored at refrigeration conditions in terms of delaying oxidation and microbial spoilage without affecting the sensory properties of the samples.