Abstract:
Sodium nitrite (NaNO2) and sodium chloride (NaCl) are essential ingredients for meat curing.
However, prolonged consumption of these salts could have deleterious health effects on
consumers. Capsicum Extract (CE) has preservative and colour-fixing abilities which could
replace NaNO2, while NaCl could be substituted with combinations of safer chloride salts.
There is paucity of information on utilisation of CE and selected chloride salts in meat
product development. Hence, quality characteristics of cured smoked Chicken Fillets (CF)
prepared with CE and chloride salts were investigated.
Four Capsicum spp.: Bell Pepper-BlP, Bird Pepper-BdP, Cayenne Pepper-CeP and Scotch
Bonnet-SB were oven-dried at 60oC and extracted with 95% methanol (1:5 w/v). Extracts
were analysed for total phenol (mg/100g), Radical Scavenging Activity-RSA (%) and total
carotenoids (mg/100g) using standard procedures. Chicken fillets obtained from 20-week old
male Funaab-α II birds were cured using 0% nitrite (T1), 0.015% nitrite (T2); and BlP extract
at: 0.150% (T3), 0.300% (T4), 0.450% (T5), 0.600% (T6) and 0.750% (T7) in a completely
randomised design. New samples were cured with 3.500% NaCl (S1), 1.750% NaCl+1.750%
calcium chloride-CaCl2 (S2), 1.750% NaCl+1.750% potassium chloride-KCl (S3), 1.750%
NaCl+1.750% magnesium chloride-MgCl2 (S4), 1.750% NaCl+0.875% CaCl2+0.875% KCl
(S5), 1.750% NaCl+0.875% CaCl2+0.875% MgCl2 (S6), 1.750% NaCl+0.875%
KCl+0.875% MgCl2 (S7) and 0.875% NaCl+0.875% CaCl2+0.875% KCl+0.875% MgCl2
(S8) and then smoked, vacuum-packed and stored at 25oC for 60 days. The best CF (0.450%
BlP extract and 1.750% NaCl+0.875% KCl+0.875% MgCl2) was prepared and stored at 4oC
and 25oC for 90 days. The pH, Lipid Oxidation-LO (mg/100g), sodium (mg/kg), redness and
Total Anaerobic Bacteria Count-TABC (log10cfu/g) were determined at 15-day interval using
standard procedures. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and ANOVA at α0.05.
Total phenol in extracts of BdP (0.48±0.16), 0.42±0.10 (CeP) and 0.35±0.06 (BlP) were
similar but significantly higher than 0.29±0.07 in SB. The RSA of extracts ranged from
34.90±1.11 (BdP) to 85.17±2.00 (BlP). Total carotenoids ranged from 22.32±1.62 (BdP) to
43.63±1.67 (CeP). The pH significantly reduced from 6.06±0.06 (T6) to 5.12±0.02 (T1)
during storage. Lipid oxidation of 0.91±0.30 was least in T6 on day 0, while 1.26±0.01 was
highest in T7 on day 60. Lowest and highest redness of 13.82±1.12 and 23.20±3.74 were
obtained in T5 and T1, respectively, while TABC ranged from 2.16±0.28 (T7) to 3.11±0.19
(T1). The pH of 4.93±0.25 was least in S1 while S7 had highest pH of 6.05±0.02. Lipid
oxidation significantly increased during storage for all treatments from 0.07±0.06 (day 0) to
0.40±0.15 (day 60). Sodium content ranged from 15.09±1.03 (S7) to 28.20±1.06 (S2), while
redness was highest in S8 (27.36±3.60) and least in S7 (11.27±2.45). The TABC ranged from
3.21±0.16 (S6) to 4.01±0.09 (S4). The CF stored at 25oC had least LO of 0.59±0.06
indicating better stability. The TABC of 2.42±0.10 was least in CF stored at 4
oC while CF
stored at 25oC had higher TABC of 4.09±0.05.
Bell pepper extract at 0.45% inclusion in cured smoked chicken fillets and substitution of
sodium chloride with 25% potassium chloride and 25% magnesium chloride maintained
quality and reduced inherent sodium level in the product.
