The effectiveness of chitosan from shrimp skin as a natural preservative for meatball

Abstract

Meatball is one of the most favorite processed food in Indonesia it has delicious taste, tasty gravy, and affordable price. It is also easy to find a meatball stall in Indonesia, including Jember. Preservatives are usually used to maintain the condition of a meatball. Some preservatives, however, contain harmful substances, like formalin and borax. Both formalin and borax are not allowable for consumption since it may harm human's health. The present study aimed to investigate a main ingredients for natural food preservative, to be further recommended as a preservative for meatball. The food preservative to be investigated in this study is chitosan made from shrimps shell wastes. To answer the research objective, a method used was an experiment of making chitosan solution. The concentration of chitosan created in the study is 1,5%. To test preservative efficacy of using chitosan, three treatments were given, (1) meatballs are coated with 1,5% of chitosan; (2) meatballs are mixed with 1,5% chitosan solution; and (3) meatballs without chitosan. These three treatments were observed and tested using organoleptic testing based on the length of storage, on day 1, 2, 3, and 4 in a room with a certain temperature. The parameters used for testing the preservatives included taste, color, odor, and texture. The study indicated that the 1,5% of chitosan solution was found effective for preserving meatballs naturally when used as coating.