Effect of pre‐treatment with carbon monoxide and film properties on the quality of vacuum packaging of beef chops

Abstract

Beef chops (longissimus dorsi) were pre-treated with 5% carbon monoxide (CO) − 95% N 2 for 24 h, vacuum packed in thermo-contractile bags and stored at 0 ± 2°C. Shelf life, as determined by the viable aerobic bacterial load, was 11 weeks. Vacuum-packed chops with heat-contractile fi lm produced a smaller drip loss, had a more intense red colour and higher colour stability under storage than chops with non-heat-contractile fi lm. Chops pre-treated with CO were redder during all the storage period than controls without CO. The pre-treatment did not affect pH, water-holding capacity, drip loss or rancidity of the meat stored in vacuum.

Effects of 0.5% carbon monoxide in modified atmosphere packagings on selected quality attributes of M. Longissimus dorsi beef steaks

“…All the samples started with the microbial count of about 4.3 log 10 (CFU/g), and achieved the highest counts ranging between 6.1 and 6.6 log 10 (CFU/g) after 21 days of storage. Similar changes in the growth of microorganisms during storage were observed in Vac beef steaks after the exposure to 5% CO by Aspé et al (), as well as by Sørheim et al () in steaks and by Lavieri and Williams () in ground beef packaged in a 0.4% CO‐MAP.…”

“…This packaging allows for increasing the purchase desire of consumers, it can also be perceived as safer than CO‐MAP, due to the lack of the lengthy exposure to a potentially dangerous gas in the package. Additionally, our finding showed that considerable improvement in the color of beef samples was possible using 0.5% CO, and thus it is not necessary to use high concentrations of carbon monoxide before Vac such as 5% CO or 100% CO used in other studies (Aspé et al, ; Brewer et al, ; Jayasingh et al, ).…”

“…In addition, they also observed that the a * value for samples with carbon monoxide treatment was greater than 10 for 40 days of storage, despite its gradual decline with time. Similarly Aspé et al () observed a decrease in redness (lower a *) of vacuum‐packed beef steaks after 48 hr of 5% CO treatment during 4 weeks of storage.…”

“…The drip loss is one of the factors that could affect the eating quality of beef. According to Aspé et al (), drip loss can reduce the juiciness and thus affect consumer acceptance. The results obtained in this study demonstrated the influence of packaging ( p < 0.001) on drip loss.…”

Advances in the packaging of fresh and processed meat products

“…Beef pretreated with 5% CO:95% N 2 for 24 h before VP was redder than controls without VP. Heat shrinking of the VP resulted in lower drip loss, higher color stability and more intense red color than non-heat-shrunk packaging (Aspé et al ., 2008). Beef steaks in MAP with 0.2% CO and 30% CO 2 had the highest preservation of color and odor while steaks in 0.4% CO were regarded by panelists to have an 'artificial' color and color stability decreased with storage in 21% O 2 (Venturini et al ., 2010).…”