Studying the effect of phycoerythrin on antioxidant activity, antimicrobial properties, and increasing the shelf life of hamburgers

Subject Areas :

Musa Behjati ¹ , Maryam Ataee ² , Bahare Norozi ^{3 *} , Seyed Amir Ali Anvar ⁴ , Hamed Ahari ⁵

1 - Department of Food Hygiene, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
2 - Department of Food Hygiene, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
3 - Department of Biology . Science and research Branch . Islamic Azad University . Tehran . Iran
4 - Department of Food Hygiene, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
5 - Agricultural Science and food Industry faculty, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

Received: 2025-09-24 Accepted : 2025-09-24 Published : 2025-09-24

Keywords: Protective coating, Antioxidant properties, Phycoerythrin, Shelf life, Hamburger,

Abstract :

Natural pigments extracted from cyanobacteria are known as valuable sources of biological compounds, which have significant antioxidant and antimicrobial effects. In this study, the antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of phycoerythrin extracted from the cyanobacterium Nostoc sp. were investigated. Then, this compound was used to coat hamburger samples with different percentages of meat (40, 75 and 95%), and the physicochemical changes and sensory properties of these samples were evaluated during a 21-day storage period at intervals of 1, 3, 7, 14 and 21 days and at two temperatures of 4 and 6 °C. The results showed that phycoerythrin has the ability to inhibit DPPH free radicals with a value (mg/ml) of 2.71 ± 0.03. Also, the minimum inhibitory concentration of this compound against Pseudomonas aeruginosa was higher than other bacteria studied, while it had the lowest inhibitory effect on Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus cereus (p≤0.05). The results of the amount of thiobarbituric acid and peroxide index at both temperatures and in all time intervals showed that the highest and lowest values of these indices were related to the 95% meat hamburger sample without coating, while the lowest values were observed in the 40% meat sample with phycoerythrin coating (p≤0.05). Overall, the results of this study showed that adding phycoerythrin to hamburger samples had a significant effect on increasing antioxidant and antimicrobial activity, increasing shelf life, and improving the sensory quality of the samples.

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