Moringa oleiferia leaves extract: a natural antioxidant for retarding lipid peroxidation in cooked goat meat patties

The effective utilisation of Moringa oleiferia mature leaves (MOL) extract as an antioxidant in cooked goat meat patties during refrigerated storage was investigated, and its efficiency was evaluated against butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT). The extract exhibited high phenolic content (48.36 mg of gallic acid equivalent per g), flavonoid (31.42 mg g-1 of sample) being the major component. Moringa oleiferia mature leaves extract showed excellent antioxidant activity as determined by radical-scavenging activity of 1, 1-diphenyl 2 picrylhydrazyl (DPPH). The IC50 value of MOL extract for 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging was 18.54 mu g mL-1. Total phenolic content (as gallic acid equivalent) significantly (P < 0.05) increased from 285.56 in control to 379.45 in patties with MOL extract. MOL extract (0.1%) when added to meat was found to retard lipid peroxidation of cooked goat meat patties as measured by TBARS number during refrigerated storage. The increase in TBARS number in MOL extracttreated samples was very slow and remained lowest (0.53 mg malonaldehyde per kg sample) up to 15 days. The antioxidant activity of MOL extract was found to be comparable to BHT. Addition of MOL extract did not affect any of the sensory attributes of patties. The MOL extract at a level of 100 mg/100 g meat was sufficient to protect goat meat patties against oxidative rancidity for periods longer than the most commonly used synthetic antioxidant like BHT.