Published in Scientific Papers. Series D. Animal Science, Vol. LXVIII, Issue 1
Written by Bianca-Georgiana ANCHIDIN, Ioana GUCIANU, Mugurel MUNTEANU, Marius-Mihai CIOBANU, Paul-Corneliu BOIȘTEANU
Maca is a plant-based superfood that enjoys great popularity for its bioactive effects. Although the benefits of its use are well documented in peer-reviewed articles, studies on its addition to meat are extremely limited, with almost no research on adding the superfood maca to meat products. Considering the popularity of snacks among the younger generation, we thought to create such a food that represents a quick and healthy alternative to classic snacks by enriching beef with maca. This innovative alternative increases the antioxidant capacity of beef, providing a nutritious and attractive food for today's consumers. In order to evaluate the impact of maca in beef snacks, we made 3 batches, one without maca addition and 2 batches with 1 and 3% maca addition. These were subjected to detailed physico-chemical and sensory analyses to characterize the product in terms of quality and consumer acceptability. The addition of maca (Lepidium meyenii) to beef snacks resulted in a clear improvement in antioxidant capacity, with DPPH and ABTS inhibition values increasing progressively with the level of plant addition concentration. The maca samples exhibited a higher antioxidant capacity than the control (BSM0), with DPPH inhibition reaching up to 37.07 ± 0.13% (vs. 17.75 ± 0.23%) and ABTS up to 39.13 ± 0.15% (vs. 19.41 ± 0.11%) in the 3% maca batch, together with a significantly higher content of polyphenols and flavonoids. From a sensory point of view, the 1% maca batch (BSM1) maintained a very good acceptability, comparable to the control, with only minor changes in the sensory profile. The data obtained were statistically analyzed in order to identify significant differences and to determine the influence of maca concentration on the finished products.
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