PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL EVALUATION OF BEEF MEATBALLS WITH DIFFERENT PROPORTION OF SEAWEED FLOUR

Abstract

Beef meatballs are processed meat products made by grinding beef with the addition of other ingredients. Ideally, meatballs should have a smooth, compact, chewy, and moderately tender texture. One potential alternative ingredient is Eucheuma cottonii seaweed flour, which contains carrageenan, a natural hydrocolloid with gel-forming properties that can stabilize emulsions and improve water-holding capacity, thereby enhancing the rheological characteristics of processed meat products. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of different ratios of tapioca flour and seaweed flour on the physical and chemical characteristics of beef meatballs.  The research was conducted in two stages, namely a preliminary study and the main experiment, using a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with a single factor, namely the ratio of tapioca flour to seaweed flour. The treatments consisted of P1 (40%:0%), P2 (35%:5%), P3 (30%:10%), P4 (25%:15%), P5 (20%:20%), P6 (15%:25%), and P7 (10%:30%), while the beef content was maintained at 60% in all formulations. Each treatment was replicated three times. The analyzed parameters included physical characteristics (texture) and chemical properties, namely moisture, ash, fat, protein, and carbohydrate contents. The data were analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), followed by Duncan's Multiple Range Test (DMRT) at a 5% significance level to determine differences among treatments. The results showed that different ratios of tapioca flour and seaweed flour significantly affected all measured parameters. Increasing the proportion of seaweed flour tended to improve texture, water-holding capacity, gel strength, and carbohydrate content, while reducing lightness, moisture, ash, fat, and protein contents. Based on the sensory evaluation, the best formulation was P6 (15% tapioca flour:25% seaweed flour), which produced a texture value of 106.30 g/10 mm, moisture content of 68.45%, ash content of 1.54%, fat content of 0.477%, protein content of 9.65%, and carbohydrate content of 20.35%.