Functional application of monkey jack (Artocarpus lacucha) pulp extract as a natural preservative: Effects on quality, safety, and storage stability of raw pangasius fish balls.

This study evaluated how Monkey jack pulp extract (MJPE) impacted the raw Pangasius (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) fish balls physicochemical quality, microbiological safety, oxidative, and storage stability while being refrigerated. Fish balls were made with several antioxidants, including control (T0), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT, T1), ascorbic acid (AA, T2), and MJPE at increasing concentrations (T3 and T4), and kept for 10 days at 4°C. On days 1, 5, and 10, changes in pH, cooking loss, color characteristics (L*, a*, b*, chroma, and hue angle), heme iron content, antioxidant activity (DPPH), lipid oxidation (TBARS), and total viable count (TVC) were assessed. All samples showed quality decrease with increasing storage time. However, antioxidants treated samples showed significantly (P < 0.05) higher stability than the control treated samples in every storage day. T4 successfully inhibited pH rise, decreased cooking loss, maintained higher heme iron levels, and preserved color characteristics rather than other treatments. Additionally, T4 showed higher DPPH scavenging capacity (ranged 72.44% to 65.79%), whereas the control showed the lower DPPH value (ranged 56.57% to 33.39%). TBARS value showed the lowest (0.31 to 0.41 mg MDA/kg sample) in T4 and the highest (0.49 to 0.67 mg MDA/kg sample) in the control. MJPE considerably reduced bacterial growth (0.80 to1.68 Log10 CFU/mL) compared to control and synthetic antioxidants treated samples. In terms of keeping the quality and enhancing the shelf life, MJPE demonstrated significantly improved antioxidant and antimicrobial effects compared to BHT and AA (P < 0.05). MJPE showed significant potential as a natural preservative for fish-based products by improving their physicochemical, microbiological, and oxidative stability during refrigerated storage.