Rat bioassay was used to evaluate the nutritional quality of beef burger as influenced by the addition of selected herbs and vegetables. The selected herbs and vegetables used were pucuk ubi (Mannihot esculenta), pucuk gajus (Anacardium occidentale), pegaga (Centella asiatica) and jantung pisang (Musa paradisiaca) as treatment group with casein and skimmed milk as reference. The rats were fed with herbs and vegetables at the rate of 0.5 (low dose) and 25 (high dose) g/kg body weight. The samples were analyzed for proximate analysis, protein quality and protein digestibility. The rats fed with pucuk ubi (high dose) (364.30 ± 25.34 g) indicated the highest mean of increased body weight (121.05 ± 14.65 g) while rats fed with skimmed milk (310.98 ± 18.92 g) showed the lowest mean increase in body weight (88.33 ± 14.25 g). As for the Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER) value, all the rats fed with herbs diet showed PER values that were significantly lower (p<0.05) compared to the casein. As for the in vivo apparent protein digestibility test, casein showed the highest digestibility value (86.33 ± 4.20) while pucuk gajus (high dose) (59.59 ± 5.41) showed the lowest. As for the in vitro digestibility analyses, casein indicated the highest value for in vitro digestibility (93.84 ± 0.33). Administration of herbs and vegetables at low and high doses show significant effects (p<0.05) on nutritional quality of beef burger. In conclusion, it was found that antinutritional factors in selected herbs and vegetables might affect the nutritional quality of beef burger.
Mayonnaise and salad dressing are fast becoming popular condiments for Malaysian. The aim of this study was to
obtain the nutritional composition of mayonnaise and salad dressing commercially available in the Malaysian market.
The data will be used to update the Malaysian Food Composition Database which was last updated in 1997. A total of
six brands from each type of mayonnaise and salad dressing were sampled from local supermarkets in the Klang Valley
and analysed using standard methods. The validity of test data was monitored with the application of internal quality
controls in line with the requirements of ISO 17025. The energy contents of mayonnaise and salad dressings were up to
626.40 kcal/100 g. Our findings were also in agreement with the energy labelling on the packaging. Sodium was high in
mayonnaise and salad dressing because it is used in the final mixture of both condiments to improve their characteristics
for certain reasons. Mayonnaise and salad dressing have been identified as potent sources of vitamin A and vitamin
E and both condiments were found to contain high levels of these antioxidants. It can be concluded that this study are
useful not only in providing information on the nutritional content of several commercial types of mayonnaise and salad
dressing, but also in improving the public understanding of healthy food choices.