摘要：The aim of this study was to determine the effects of different natural sources of bio coloring agents including pure lycopene, turmeric extract and red beetroot extract powder on the chemical (acidity and peroxide values) and microbiological (coliform, mold and total microbial counts) properties of cow’s milk butter. For this purpose, different dosages of the coloring agents (at three levels) were used and analysis was done after 8 months. Results showed the peroxide index in all the treatments was in the permitted range allowed by the national standard (0.5-1.5 meq/kg). The efficacy of additives to control peroxide and acidity values was in the following order: red beetrootlycopeneturmericcontrol and turmericred beetrootlycopenecontrol respectively. The best peroxide (0.65 meq/kg) and acidity (0.113%w/w) indexes were observed in treatments containing the highest amounts of red beetroot and turmeric powders. Turmeric extract powder induced significant effect on mold, coliform, and total microbial count in all dosages (p ≤ 0.05) and the count reached respectively to 17, 18, and 960 CFU/mL at the highest dosage level. According to the findings, turmeric was a suitable treatment in view of chemical and microbiological properties and might be considered for future studies.
