Improved use of oxygen scavengers to stabilize the colour of retail‐ready meat cuts stored in modified atmospheres

Abstract

A series of three experiments were conducted to develop a retail packaging system suitable for use in centralized meat processing and packaging operations using modified atmosphere master packaging (MAP) of display‐ready beef and pork cuts. It was shown that oxygen (O2) scavengers were needed inside retail trays, lidded or over‐wrapped trays could be used with equal success but inclusion of a grid inside the retail tray was not required. It was established that a minimum of eight O2 scavengers with an O2 absorption rate high enough to achieve an O2 half‐life of 0.6–0.7 h in the pack atmosphere were needed where the O2 concentration could otherwise remain ≤500 ppm at any time during storage. Composite results from these experiments clearly showed that the best performance resulted from use of hard plastic retail trays containing eight O2 scavengers, with high O2 absorption rate, when placed underneath an absorbent pad and over‐wrapped with an O2 permeable film. Small holes in two corners of the O2 permeable film to permit free exchange of atmospheres within the retail packages facilitated O2 reduction during MAP storage.

Shelf life of case-ready beef steaks (Semitendinosus muscle) stored in oxygen-depleted master bag system with oxygen scavengers and CO2/N2 modified atmosphere packaging

“…McMillin (2008) reported that fresh beef meat is very susceptible to metmyoglobin formation at low O 2 pressure (in the 6-13.3 mbar range). Although at low oxygen concentrations the gas availability limits the capacity to absorb oxygen (as well documented by Brandon, Beggan, Allen, &Butler, 2009 andHolley, 2002b), the scavengers used in this study allowed the absorption of residual O 2 inside the master bags; in fact, during the first 24 h the concentration dropped up to values not detectable by the instrument (i.e. lower than 0.08%), creating an oxygen-depleted environment.…”

Effect of raspberry pomace extracts isolated by high pressure extraction on the quality and shelf‐life of beef burgers

“…A low partial pressure of O 2 accelerates deoxymyoglobin oxidation. This reaction overwhelms the energy-dependent, inherent MetMb-reducing capacity of meat and leads to permanent discolouration, which is not reversed upon exposure to air (Tewari et al, 2002).…”

Advances in the packaging of fresh and processed meat products

“…Color stability of six beef muscles in a MAP mother pack system with 50% CO 2 :50% N 2 and O 2 scavengers had superior redness during 96 h of retail display after six weeks storage in mother packs compared with the muscles under similar conditions without O 2 scavengers (Isdell et al ., 1999). Sufficient O 2 scavengers are needed to achieve an O 2 half-life of less than 35-40 min in packaging so O 2 remains less than 5000 ppm at any time during storage if scavengers were not used (Tewari et al ., 2002b). High O 2 systems for beef Longissimus dorsi muscles decreased juiciness, tenderness and vitamin E levels and increased objective and subjective evaluations of lipid oxidation compared with anaerobic systems, with decreased tenderness attributed to increased protein oxidation or reduced proteolysis (Clausen et al ., 2009).…”