Ability of Coating Materials in Maintaining Empek-Empek Quality during Vacum Storage

Abstract

Pempek is Palembang people traditional food made from basic material of minced fish meat and tapioka flour with a distinctive taste. Empek empek is served with a sauce called as "cuko empek-empek". The shelf life of empek-empek is very limited. Various studies of empek-empek are conducted more on attention to improve the quality and flavor. Among of them is the addition of carrageenan (Murtado, Dasir and Ade Verayani 2014) and wheat flour porridge (Murtado Danade Verayani, 2015). The addition of Carrageenan on making empek-empek, in addition to improving the taste, it also extends the shelf life of up to 4 days at cold temperatures. The limitation of the shelf life is an obstacle in the distribution for a long time. Palembang people usually treat empek-empek when shipping by smearing it beforehand with oil or tapioca before being packed. This treatment is able to maintain the shelf life of empek-empek up to 2 days during transport at room temperature. Growed fungi that have yellow color, wet, sticky and bad smell are damage types in empek-empek commonly occur after transportation and storage. Vacuum packaging is proven to maintain the shelf life in various products.The study aims to determine the shelf life of empek-empek due to treatment of types of coating materials, namely oil, tapioca and margarine. Empek-empek is first smeared with oil, tapioca and margarine. Then, it is vacuum packed using Polyethylene with a thickness of 0.05 mm. After vacuumed, then stored in cold temperatures. Parameters measured are protein level, moisture content, degree of whiteness, smell, crispness and total appearance. The results show that the shelf life of empek-empek with the coating material of palm oil is 12 days, tapioca coating is 6 days, margarine coating is 9 days and without coating material is 6 days.

Keywords: coating, empek-empek, storage