QUALITATIVE YIELD OF WHITE PEPPER EXTRACT OPTIMIZED BY MICROWAVE EXTRACTION AND MEAT QUALITY ASSESSMENT – AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH

What if your next steak could be seasoned with a greener, smarter extract—one that packs 41 bioactive compounds into a single microwave run? That's the promise of a new study on white pepper.

Traditional extraction methods guzzle solvent and hours, often delivering mediocre yields. But a team from Nigeria's Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, has turned to closed microwave extraction—a greener, faster route to unlock white pepper's bioactive treasures. Using a central composite design, they fixed microwave power at 300 W and sieve size at 0.40 mm, while varying irradiation time (75–85 min) and solvent volume (280–300 mL). The goal? Optimize the extract for meat quality enhancement. After testing, twelve solutions emerged, with five hitting the highest desirability score of 0.604. The recommended recipe: 300 W, 0.40 mm sieve, 91.19 min irradiation, and 280 mL of distilled water—with four other near-identical variants. When they ran GC-MS on the top extract, it revealed a remarkable 41 compounds. This green extraction method not only cuts solvent and time but also preserves heat-sensitive phenolics, making it a promising alternative for food and therapeutic applications.

Key Points

• Closed microwave extraction optimizes white pepper yield.
• 41 compounds found via GC-MS in recommended extract.
• Green method cuts solvent and time, preserves bioactives.