Development of formulations for meat pickle

Meat pickles or acar daging is a dish of preserved meat that is used as a side dish. The method of food preservation is to pickle the meat in acetic acid which will influence the physical and chemical properties of the pickles. This study evaluated the physical and chemical properties of meat pickles processed using three different formulations with different levels of acetic acid, namely, 20% (A), 30% (B) and 40% (C). Use of acetic acid substantially brought down the pH of pickles and results showed that the pH ranged from 4.04 to 4.17. The proximate analysis showed that the meat pickles were high in protein with crude protein content ranging from 12.44 to 13.22 g/100 g. Colour evaluation indicated that there was no significant difference between the colour (L*, a*, b* values) of the meat preserved at the different levels of acetic acid. Meat samples preserved in 40% acetic acid had the lowest hardness value and was significantly different (p 0.05) from the other samples. The sensory evaluation showed that meat preserved in 30% acetic acid was preferred followed by those preserved in 20% and 40% acetic acid. Microbiological counts did not show substantial change and remained satisfactory throughout the 3 months storage period. Therefore, it can be concluded that the meat pickle can safely be stored on the shelf for 3 months