Natural Antioxidant Enrichment of Goat Meat Pates with Portulaca oleracea and Honey Improves Oxidative Stability and Color Properties

Oxidative reactions accelerate quality loss in emulsified meats. This study evaluated a clean-label strategy in goat meat pates by co-fortifying Portulaca oleracea powder 1% and honey 4%. Control and treatment batches were cooked to 72 °C and stored as opened packs at ≤6 °C for 10 days. Oxidative stability of lipid and protein was monitored by peroxide value (PV), TBARS, acid value, and baseline protein carbonyls; total antioxidant capacity was assessed by FRAP and DPPH; color was quantified in CIE Lab; fatty acids were profiled by GC-FID; and protein integrity was examined by SDS-PAGE. The treatment modestly increased α-linolenic acid (ALA) (1.2% vs. 0.8%) in the control and markedly enhanced antioxidant status (FRAP 10.5 ± 0.04 mg GAE/g vs. not detected; DPPH 33.02 ± 0.009% vs. 22.33 ± 0.007%; IC50 106.10 ± 10.01 vs. 138.25 ± 11.15 µg/mL). Across storage, PV showed a small, non-significant delay on day 10 (13.0 ± 0.9 vs. 14.0 ± 0.9 meq/kg), while secondary and hydrolytic indices were consistently lower (TBARS day 10: 1.91 ± 0.13 vs. 3.29 ± 0.23 mg MDA/kg; acid value day 10: 7.0 ± 0.5 vs. 8.5 ± 0.6 mg KOH/g). Protein carbonyls at baseline were comparable (99.19 vs. 95.73 nmol/mg). L* and b* remained similar before and after light exposure, with a modest, non-significant reduction in color stability and greater a* loss in the treatment. These results show that purslane–honey co-fortification nutritionally enriches pates and attenuates oxidative spoilage during refrigerated storage, with minor color trade-offs that merit process optimization.