THE COMBINED EFFECT OF EDIBLE PACKAGING AND SPICES EXTRACT ON STABILITY OF FROZEN BUFFALO MEAT PRODUCT
Kenawi, Mohamed A., Petrovic, Milan P.
Abstract
The chemical composition, expressible water (EW), water holding capacity (WHC), pH value, total acidity, free fatty acids (FFA), thiobarbituricacid values (TBA), and microbiological examination were determined in order to evaluate the combined effect of edible packaging and two spices extract on the stability buffalo meat product stored for 10 months under frozen condition. The data showed that the treatment by spices extract as antioxidant and chitosan (as primary edible packaging) has no noticeable effect on the chemical composition of the product. The results indicated that all the samples have lost moisture during storage, and the loss was higher in the chitosan untreated samples. The data also showed that the EW values increased, whereas, WHC values decreased with time during storage for all samples. The increment of EW and the decrease of WHC were higher in the chitosan untreated samples. The data indicated a reduction in the pH values and an increase in the total acidity values especially for the first four to six months of storage, and these changes were associated with an increase in the FFA values as a result of storage. The increment in the FFA values was the highest for the control samples compared with the spices extract treated samples, and for the chitosan untreated samples compared with the treated ones. This indicated the effect of spices extract and chitosan as edible packaging to retard the formation of FFA. The data indicated that TBA values for the control samples were higher than those treated by spices extract, and for the chitosan untreated samples compared with the chitosan treated ones. The storage time had a negative effect on the total bacterial counts and the coliform group for all samples. The rate of reduction was much higher in the chitosan treated samples and the spices extract treated samples as well. The results indicated that the use of chitosan as edible film had delayed the proliferation of total plate count and coliform group.
