Impact of prickly pear extract on the quality parameters of beef burger patties after cooking

This work aims to evaluate the effect of the addition of a prickly pear extract (PPE) on quality parameters of cooked beef burgers. The low cost and the peculiar properties of PPE make this product interesting to food application. The PPE was added to the beef mixture both directly and encapsulated in alginate beads. The use of PPE did not affect the texture parameters (hardness, cohesiveness and springiness) of the cooked burgers, and allowed to preserve the surface meat color. Moreover, samples containing PPE encapsulated in alginate spheres showed the highest inhibition capacity of lipid oxidation and antioxidant activity. The hedonic evaluation of the burgers evidenced no significant difference in liking degree between samples containing or not PPE. Based on these scientific findings, the addition of PPE can be proposed as a natural tool to improve the quality parameters of cooked beef burgers and to obtain an advantage both for the food industry and consumers by increasing the yield of the cooked product.