Effectiveness of different plant sources in improving the shelf-life of chicken meat patties

Aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of kiwi fruit pulp, lemon juice and olive leaves extract on chicken meat quality along a six-day refrigerated storage. Fresh chicken breast meat was ground and assigned to four batches corresponding to four treatments: Control (C), fresh kiwi fruit pulp (K), freshly squeezed lemon juice (L) and Olive Leaves extract (OL). Control group had no supplementation, whereas the other treatments were supplemented with 2% (w/w) K, L or OL. Patties were stored at 4±1 °C under fluorescent light illumination for a six-day shelf-life trial. Analyses were conducted at days 0, 3 and 6 of storage, including drip losses, pH, L*a*b* colour values, lipid oxidation (TBARs) and microbial growth (Total viable count, total Coliforms, Enterobacteria and Pseudomonas). Overall results indicated that K improved meat shelf-life mainly through bacteriostatic action against spoiling and phatogenic microorganisms, without negatively affecting the other meat quality traits. Differently, K antioxidant activity on fresh meat should be further investigated.