# The Effects of Combined _Aloe vera_ Gel and Blended Antioxidants on Cooked Chicken Meat Quality
## 2 Material and Methods  
### Sample Preparation for Treatments  
Meat patties (100 g/each) were prepared, packaged, cooked, and stored in compliance with the procedure documented in [17]. Inside the department's meat lab, the experiments were carried out (Mutah University; Agriculture Collage/Animal Production Department) and analyzed. Fresh chicken meat was obtained from the National Poultry Company (Slaughtering facility) located in Al Qatrana (South of Jordan, around 45 km from the Agriculture Collage), where all the chicken was observed and evaluated by the company's veterinary specialist. After the harvesting process, all meat carcasses were packaged and transferred to the meat laboratory in a refrigerator. Once the carcasses reached the meat laboratory, they were kept inside a large plastic container with a mixture of water and ice at 4 \({}^{\circ}\)C for up to one hour before use. The meat laboratory team (Meat Specialists) separated the thigh meat of all the chicken carcasses, deboned them, and removed the skin, fat, and any other hard connective tissues. Afterwards, the chicken thigh meat was packaged inside plastic bags that are impermeable to oxygen and then frozen at \(-20\)\({}^{\circ}\)C in the meat laboratory. On the experiment's first day, the chicken thigh meat was defrosted and prepared for a two-ground step using 8 mm and then 3 mm plates (Type DKA-1, Moulinex(r), Ecully, France). The ground thigh meat was mixed with treatment additives, and an equal number of meat patties and replications were prepared. The treatments included (**1**) the control (without extract); (**2**) blend 1 (BL\({}_{1}\)) (90 ppm essential oil of _Origanum syriacum_ L. (OE), 150 ppm extract of _Rosmarinus officinalis_ L. (RE), and 60 ppm extract of _Teucium polium_ L. (GR)); (**3**) blend 2 (BL\({}_{2}\)) (150 ppm OE, 120 ppm RE, and 30 ppm GR); (**4**) 200 ppm of sodium nitrite salt (E-250); and (**5**) 14 ppm of synthetic _butyladydrovanisole_ (BHA). All treatment extracts and essential oils were bought from a Jordanian certified local business (Green-Field Factory for Oils, Amman, Jordan). Raw _Aloe vera_ triangular leaves (_Aloe barbadensis miller_) were collected from different dry and semi-dry regions in the wild in Jordan. In the meat lab, _Aloe vera_ gel (internal _Parenchymatous_ colorless gel) was gathered, cleaned, and filtered with distilled water (DDW) and then kept in plastic bags that were oxygen-impermeable until needed. Nitrite of sodium (Gainland International Ltd.; Chemical Co-GCC, Factory Road; Deeside, UK) solid powder was first solubilized in deionized water and then combined with crude _Aloe vera_ gel (nearly 98.5% water (Raw _pulp_)) to create its working solution. All other additives (blend 1 and 2 of plant extracts and BHA) were solubilized using 15 mL of pure ethanol and combined with 50 mL of _Aloe vera_ gel to prepare their standard carrier. Using a rotary evaporator (Heidolph Laborota 4001 Efficient Rotary Evaporator; Water bath Glassware, The Lab World Group, Hudson, MA, USA) at a temperature of 70 \({}^{\circ}\)C and 175 millibar vacuum pressure, pure ethanol only was removed from the gel prior to combining the stock solution with the ground meat. All treatment additives that were incorporated with _Aloe vera_ gel were combined with ground meat for three minutes using a bowl mixer (KENWOOD Limited, KM-331; Food Processor and Mixer parts, Havant, UK). The meat batches of all the treatments had the same amount of _Aloe vera_ gel (5%) and water. However, there was no need to prepare a negative control (_without Aloe gel_) in the current study since it was measured and evaluated in previous research [13]. In addition, the preliminary study also showed that adding _Aloe_ gel to the ground meat has a positive effect on its quality and freshness. The fresh raw meat samples were checked for their proximate composition, pH, and cooking loss values.