Effect of microencapsulated extract of pitaya (Hylocereus costaricensis) peel on color, texture and oxidative stability of refrigerated ground pork patties submitted to high pressure processing

This study aimed at investigating the effect of microencapsulated microwave-assisted extracts of pitaya peel on color, texture and oxidative stability of pork patties pressurized at 500 MPa for 10 min and stored at 4 °C during 9 days. Different enhancement levels, namely 0 (NC and PNC), 100 (P1) and 1000 (P10) ppm were investigated. High pressure processing (HPP) accelerated (P ≤ 0.05) color (L* and a* values) and texture changes, as well as lipid and protein oxidation during refrigerated storage. Butyl hydroxytoluene (BHT), P1 and P10 demonstrated a protective effect (P ≤ 0.05) against the alterations promoted by HPP. Moreover, P1 and P10 demonstrated potential for inhibiting (P ≤ 0.05) protein oxidation induced by HPP and thus, minimized (P ≤ 0.05) hardness and chewiness changes in the pork matrix. Further studies should be conducted to investigate the scalability of the application at the industrial scale.