Effect of dragon fruit peel powder on quality and acceptability of fish nuggets stored in a solar cooler (5 ± 1 °C).

Fish nuggets were prepared with dragon fruit peel powder (1.0, 1.5 and 2.0% w/w) to evaluate its quality and improvement in shelf-life during 15 days storage in a prefabricated solar cooler (5 ± 1 °C). Antioxidative and antimicrobial effects of dragon fruit peel powder in fish model system were also evaluated during storage. Results showed that dragon fruit peel is a good source of dietary fibre (59.8%) and phenolic compounds [65.7 mg Gallic Acid Equivalent (GAE)/100 g of sample] and contained 6.03% protein, 6.14% fat and 4.34% ash. Use of dragon fruit peel powder significantly (p < 0.05) improved the emulsion stability and cooking yield and nuggets with peel powder had lower pH value than control. Fish nuggets with peel powder showed gradual decrease (p < 0.05) in hardness, springiness, cohesiveness, gumminess and chewiness with advancement of storage period. Nuggets with 1.5% dragon fruit peel showed better sensory attributes compared to the others. Dragon fruit peel powder significantly inhibited (p < 0.05) the lipid oxidation and microbial load in fish nuggets during the storage period. So, it can be concluded that dragon fruit peel powder may be used as antioxidant dietary fibre for improved quality and acceptability of fish nuggets in prefabricated solar cooler. 1.5% level of incorporation showed better results in terms of antioxidant activity and better shelf-life of the fish nuggets. © Association of Food Scientists & Technologists (India) 2022.