Nutritional, Physicochemical, and Microbiological Quality of Soy Yoghurt Fortified with Fresh Moringa oleifera Leaf Aqueous Extract During Refrigerated Storage

Ita Fatkhur Romadhoni, Lilis Sulandari, Niken Purwidiani, Dwi Iriyani, Rita Ismawati, Kristian Triatmaja Raharja

Abstract

Growing interest in plant-based fermented foods has encouraged the development and evaluation of non-dairy yoghurt formulations. This study evaluated the effects of formulation and refrigerated storage time on the nutritional, physicochemical, and microbiological characteristics of soy yoghurt containing fresh Moringa oleifera leaf aqueous extract. Four formulations containing different combinations of moringa, garlic, and lime extracts were prepared in three independent production batches. Samples were stored at 4 ± 1 °C and analyzed on Days 7 and 14 for proximate composition, calculated energy value, pH, titratable acidity, aerobic plate count (APC), and lactic acid bacteria (LAB). Two-way analysis of variance showed significant formulation, storage time, and/or interaction effects on most measured variables, while titratable acidity was primarily affected by storage time. Formula B had the highest crude protein, fat, and calculated energy values at both sampling times, whereas Formula C had the highest carbohydrate content. Formula D showed the lowest APC on Day 7 and the highest LAB population at both sampling times, reaching 6.79 log₁₀ CFU/mL on Day 14. LAB populations remained above 6 log₁₀ CFU/mL in all formulations at both sampling times. These findings indicate that formulation composition influenced the measured characteristics of soy yoghurt between Days 7 and 14, although the independent contribution of fresh Moringa oleifera leaf aqueous extract could not be separated from those of garlic and lime.

Keywords

aerobic plate count; calculated energy value; lactic acid bacteria; plant-based fermentation

Full Text:

PDF

References

Adepoju, F. O., & Selezneva, I. S. (2020). Comparative study of yoghurt enriched with Moringa powder in different concentrations. AIP Conference Proceedings, 2280. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0018035

Adewumi, O. O., Felix-Minnaar, J. V., & Jideani, V. A. (2022). Physiochemical and Nutritional Characteristics of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food Prepared Using Bambara Groundnut-Moringa oleifera Leaf Protein Complex. Foods, 11(12). https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11121680

Akin, Z., & Ozcan, T. (2017). Functional properties of fermented milk produced with plant proteins. LWT, 86, 25–30. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2017.07.025

Alhamdan, A. M., Al Juhaimi, F. Y., Hassan, B. H., Ehmed, K. A., & Mohamed Ahmed, I. A. (2021). Physicochemical, microbiological, and sensorial quality attributes of a fermented milk drink (Laban) fortified with date syrup (dibs) during cold storage. Foods, 10(12). https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10123157

Alptekin, İ. M., Yilmaz, N., Alptekin, İ., & Çakıroğlu, F. P. (2025). Effects of Inulin Addition on Probiotic Proliferation and Physicochemical Properties in Fat-Free Synbiotic Yogurt Production. Sağlık Bilimleri Dergisi, 34(3), 317–325. https://doi.org/10.34108/eujhs.1592541

Alwohaibi, A. A. A., Ali, A. A., Sakr, S. S., Mohamed Ahmed, I. A., Alhomaid, R. M., Alsaleem, K. A., Aladhadh, M., Barakat, H., & Hassan, M. F. Y. (2023). Valorization of Different Dairy By-Products to Produce a Functional Dairy–Millet Beverage Fermented with Lactobacillus paracasei as an Adjunct Culture. Fermentation, 9(11). https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation9110927

AOAC. (2019). AOAC: Guidelines for Standard Method Performance Requirements. 3(3), 1–18.

Bhusal, K. K., Magar, S. K., Thapa, R., Lamsal, A., Bhandari, S., Maharjan, R., Shrestha, S., & Shrestha, J. (2022). Nutritional and pharmacological importance of stinging nettle (Urtica dioica L.): A review. Heliyon, 8(6), e09717. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e09717

Brugnoli, M., Cantadori, E., Arena, M. P., De Vero, L., Colonello, A., & Gullo, M. (2023). Zero- and Low-Alcohol Fermented Beverages: A Perspective for Non-Conventional Healthy and Sustainable Production from Red Fruits. In Fermentation (Vol. 9, Number 5). MDPI. https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation9050457

De Santis, D., Giacinti, G., Chemello, G., & Frangipane, M. T. (2019). Improvement of the Sensory Characteristics of Goat Milk Yogurt. Journal of Food Science, 84(8), 2289–2296. https://doi.org/10.1111/1750-3841.14692

Elkazaz, A., Allam, M., Ayad, E., Darwish, S., & Gomaa, M. (2024). Viability of Probiotic Strains in Moringa Aqueous Extract-Fortified Low-Fat Yogurt. Journal of the Advances in Agricultural Researches, 29(1), 49–63. https://doi.org/10.21608/jalexu.2024.251682.1174

Eze, C. M., Aremu, K. O., Alamu, E. O., & Okonkwo, T. M. (2021). Impact of type and level of stabilizers and fermentation period on the nutritional, microbiological, and sensory properties of short-set Yoghurt. Food Science and Nutrition, 9(10), 5477–5492. https://doi.org/10.1002/fsn3.2507

Fan, L., Duan, Y., Huang, Z., Zhao, D., Zhao, L., He, W., Zhang, X., Li, M., Lin, Y., & Chen, Y. (2024). Storage stability and shelf-life of soymilk obtained via repeated boiling and filtering: A predictive model. Food Science and Nutrition, 12(3), 1973–1982. https://doi.org/10.1002/fsn3.3893

Fayyaz, M. S., Chughtai, M. F. J., Khaliq, A., Mehmood, T., Bordiga, M., Mukonzo Kasongo, E. L., & Alsulami, T. (2025). Comparative Analysis of Proximate, Nutritional, and Phytochemical Profiles of Soybean Varieties Using FTIR and HPLC. Food Science and Nutrition, 13(10). https://doi.org/10.1002/fsn3.71072

Ford, H., Thibodeau, M., Newton, L., Child, C., & Yang, Q. (2024). Investigating the effect of sharing environmental information on consumer responses to conventional and hypothetical ‘precision fermented’ yoghurt. International Journal of Food Science and Technology, 59(11), 8490–8500. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijfs.17228

Gan, J., Kong, X., Wang, K., Chen, Y., Du, M., Xu, B., Xu, J., Wang, Z., Cheng, Y., & Yu, T. (2023). Effect of fermentation using different lactic acid bacteria strains on the nutrient components and mineral bioavailability of soybean yogurt alternative. Frontiers in Nutrition, 10, 1198456. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2023.1198456

Hasan, M., Arpitha, S. R., Das, C., Laishram, R., Sasi, M., Kumar, S., Maheshwari, C., Krishnan, V., Kumari, S., Lorenzo, J. M., Kumar, M., Sachdev, A., & Dahuja, A. (2023). Research trends and approaches for the nutritional and bio-functionality enhancement of fermented soymilk. In Journal of Functional Foods (Vol. 107). Elsevier Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jff.2023.105698

Hayat, S., Ahmad, H., Ali, M., Hayat, K., Khan, M. A., & Cheng, Z. (2018). Aqueous garlic extract as a plant biostimulant enhances physiology, improves crop quality and metabolite abundance, and primes the defense responses of receiver plants. Applied Sciences, 8(9), 1505. https://doi.org/10.3390/app8091505

Jo, N. G., Kim, G., Seong, H., Han, S. H., Choi, J. K., & Han, N. S. (2025). Suitability analysis of probiotic lactic acid bacteria for soy yoghurt fermentation: Impact on flavor, texture, and sensory properties. Applied Food Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.afres.2025.101390

Lisak Jakopović, K., Repajić, M., Rumora Samarin, I., Božanić, R., Blažić, M., & Barukčić Jurina, I. (2022). Fortification of Cow Milk with Moringa oleifera Extract: Influence on Physicochemical Characteristics, Antioxidant Capacity and Mineral Content of Yoghurt. Fermentation, 8(10). https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation8100545

Longworth, Z. L., Mohammadkhani, R., Szafron, M., Lane, G., & Vatanparast, H. (2024). Trends in Plant-Based Diets and the Associated Health Characteristics among Canadians. Nutrients , 16(16). https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16162628

Ma, J. J., Su, K., Chen, M., & Wang, S. (2023). Study on the antioxidant activity of peptides from soybean meal by fermentation based on the chemical method and AAPH-induced oxidative stress. Food Science and Nutrition, 11(10), 6634–6647. https://doi.org/10.1002/fsn3.3612

Mehta, K. A., Quek, Y. C. R., & Henry, C. J. (2023). Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis): Processing, nutritional quality, and food applications. In Frontiers in Nutrition (Vol. 10). Frontiers Media S.A. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2023.1156155

Montemurro, M., Pontonio, E., Coda, R., & Rizzello, C. G. (2021). Plant-based alternatives to yogurt: State-of-the-art and perspectives of new biotechnological challenges. In Foods (Vol. 10, Number 2). MDPI AG. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10020316

Peñalver, R., Martínez‐zamora, L., Lorenzo, J. M., Ros, G., & Nieto, G. (2022). Nutritional and Antioxidant Properties of Moringa oleifera Leaves in Functional Foods. Foods, 11(8), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11081107

Rambu, J., Rai, I. N., & Dwiyani, R. (2025). Morphological Characterization and Phytochemical Analysis of Moringa Plant (Moringa oleifera L.) Different Altitudes in Bali. Agro Bali, 8(2), 657–664. https://doi.org/10.37637/ab.v8i2.1919

Romadhoni, I. F., Iriyani, D., Ismawati, R., & Raharja, K. T. (2026). Compositional protein and lipid quality indices in Salak (Salacca zalacca) snack bars fortified with Moringa oleifera. Asian Journal of Agriculture, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.13057/asianjagric/g100165

Vong, A. T., Chong, H. W., & Lim, V. (2018). Preliminary study of the potential extracts from selected plants to improve surface cleaning. Plants, 7(1), 17. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants7010017

Wang, X., Wang, L., Wei, X., Xu, C., Cavender, G., Lin, W., & Sun, S. (2025). Invited review: Advances in yogurt development—Microbiological safety, quality, functionality, sensory evaluation, and consumer perceptions across different dairy and plant-based alternative sources. In Journal of Dairy Science (Vol. 108, Number 1, pp. 33–58). Elsevier Inc. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2024-25322

Xie, A., Dong, Y., Liu, Z., Li, Z., Shao, J., Li, M., & Yue, X. (2023). A Review of Plant-Based Drinks Addressing Nutrients, Flavor, and Processing Technologies. In Foods (Vol. 12, Number 21). Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI). https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12213952

Yang, X., Hong, J., Wang, L., Cai, C., Mo, H., Wang, J., Fang, X., & Liao, Z. (2024). Effect of Lactic Acid Bacteria Fermentation on Plant-Based Products. In Fermentation (Vol. 10, Number 1). Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI). https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation10010048

Ziarno, M., et al. (2023). Comprehensive studies on the stability of yoghurt-type fermented soy beverages during refrigerated storage using dairy starter cultures. Frontiers in Microbiology, 14, 1230025. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1230025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37637/ab.v9i2.2687

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.