THE APPLICATION OF EGG WHITE POWDER A SUBTITUTE OF BORAX IN BEEF MEATBALLS

Meatballs are processed meat products where ground the meat mixed with spices, flour, and then formed like small balls and then boiled in hot water. Sometimes in making meatballs hazardous ingredients such as borax are added in order to improve the texture. However borax is prohibited since it has adverse effect on human health. Therefore there is a need to replace borax to make springy meatballs. Egg white powder is a binder agent that can produce a strong and elastic texture as well as a good appearance of meatballs. The purpose of this research was to determine the best concentration of egg white powder addition of beef meatballs. Egg white powders added were 0.2%; 0.3%; 0.4%; and 0.5% of the weight of the meat used. Tests performed for all samples included water holding capacity, texture (using texture analyzer), color, cooking yield, and sensory test (hedonic ranking test using 30 panelists). All the samples were compared to control sample, i.e. meatballs with the addition of 1,5% borax (positive control), meatballs with the addition of 0,5% STPP (negative control), and commercial meatballs. All of data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. The difference between samples was analyzed using one way annova. The results showed that the addition of 0.2%; 0.3%; 0.4%; and 0.5% of egg white powder increased the hardness, springiness, and lightness (L *) of meatballs, while decreased WHC value, cooking yield, a *, and b * value of meatballs. Sample with the addition of 0.5% egg white powder was the most preferred sample by the panelists based on color attribute, while the addition of 0,4% egg white powder was chosen by most of panelists based on texture and overall attribute, and control negative samples was chosen for flavor attribute. Based on the result the addition of 0,5% egg white powder is the bestformulation of beef meatballs and can be recommended to replace borax