Abstract:The chemical characteristics and microbiological examination of vacuum packaged ground buffalo meat during cold storage for 24 days were determined in order to evaluate two different antimicrobial agents sodium lactate, sodium chloride and their mixture. The results indicated that the use of sodium lactate with or without sodium chloride delayed the proliferation of aerobic plate count, psychrotrophic count, and lactic acid bacterial count, and extended the shelf life up to more than 24 and 21 days respectively, compared to 8 days for the control samples. The TBA values for the samples treated by sodium chloride was not affected, while at the end of storage period the TBA values of samples treated by sodium lactate were significantly reduce the oxidation changes. Therefore, the use of sodium lactate with or without sodium chloride could be used to extend the shelf life of ground buffalo meat during refrigerated storage by reducing both chemical and microbiological changes.