Effect of aerobic and modified atmosphere packaging on quality characteristics of chicken leg meat at refrigerated storage.

The demand for chicken meat is continuously increasing in the consumer market. Increasing the shelf-life of chicken meat with modern packaging technology in the supply chain is necessary. Hence research was undertaken to study the effect of aerobic packaging (AP) and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) on the quality and shelf-life of chicken meat. The chicken leg meat (CLM) was stored under refrigerated storage (4 ± 1°C) in aerobic and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP20 = 20%O2 + 30%CO2 + 50%N2, MAP10 = 10%O2 + 40%CO2 + 50%N2, MAP0 = 0%O2 + 20%CO2 + 80%N2) conditions and evaluated for quality attributes. The results have indicated that MAP of chicken leg meat significantly increased the headspace carbon dioxide, Warner-Bratzler shear force value, standard plate count, color, and odor but decreased the TBARS value, headspace oxygen, and nitrogen when compared with AP. The pH, myoglobin forms, meat pigment, heme iron, CIELAB color space (L*, a*, b*), yeast and mold count, appearance, and sliminess were not affected significantly by AP and MAP. It is concluded that under refrigerated storage conditions, MAP extends the shelf-life of chicken leg meat up to 15 d compared to only 6 d for aerobic packaging.

Genetic parameters of growth traits, trend of production and reproduction traits, and meat quality status of Ghagus, an indigenous chicken of India.

Indigenous chickens play a vital role in providing nutritional security and economic support for the rural and tribal people in tropical countries like India. Ghagus, an indigenous chicken breed of India, was characterized for growth, production, and reproduction (fertility and hatchability) traits over different generations and for carcass and meat quality traits. Heritability, and genetic and phenotypic correlations among growth traits were estimated using mixed model least squares and maximum likelihood methods. Estimates of heritability of growth traits such as bodyweights at different age and 8-week shank length were high (0.32 to 0.39) in initial generation and moderate to high during latest generation (0.20 to 0.42). The correlations of growth traits with 40-week egg production were positive and significant (P < 0.001). There was improvement in 8-week bodyweight (559.3 ± 4.40 g) by 177 g over the generations. The average egg production up to 40 weeks over the generations was 35.66 eggs. There was also a significant (P < 0.001) increase in egg weights over the generations. The fertility (mean 89.3%) ranged from 85.2 to 92.3%. The hatchability on fertile egg set (mean 90.8%) ranged from 86.5 to 94.1% and it was improved by 3.9% over the generations. The carcass and meat quality study revealed that this breed has the lean meat, high protein, and attractive meat color with desirable meat quality characteristics. The study concluded that the Ghagus breed with self-propagation capacity has the potential to be improved as an indigenous meat-type breed to meet the ever-increasing demand for indigenous chickens' meat in the country.

Bio-preservative effect of blends of essential oils: natural anti-oxidant and anti-microbial agents for the shelf life enhancement of emulsion based chicken sausages.

This work explores the efficacy and potential of four different blends of essential oils as bio-preservative for enhancement of shelf life of emulsion based ready-to-eat chicken sausages. Pre-optimized levels of four different blends of essential oils: 0.25% each of B-1, B-2, B-3 and 0.125% of B-4, were tried in the chicken sausages. Four different treatments along with control were then aerobically packaged and stored under refrigerated (4 ± 1 °C) conditions. An increase in pH and TBARS value was found to be significantly lower in the case of B-2 products. Significantly higher values for DPPH activity (% inhibition) and total phenolic content (µg/g) were also observed for B-2 products which indicated that B-2 products had better oxidative stability. Further, B-1 and B-2 products were observed with significantly lower microbial count; however, B-4 products received slightly higher sensory scores than B-2. It was found that B-1, 2 and 3 (each at 0.25%) and B-4 (0.125%) enhanced the shelf life of chicken sausages by 13-14 days, 16-17 days, 10-11 days and 6-7 days, respectively under refrigerated (4 ± 1 °C) storage.

Effect of essential oils incorporated edible film on quality and storage stability of chicken patties at refrigeration temperature (4 ± 1 °C).

A blend of oregano and thyme essential oils (EOs) incorporated edible film was evaluated to improve the storage quality of chicken meat patties. Several preliminary trials were carried out to optimize the levels of bio-polymer to obtained desired edible film as a carrier and blend of EOs as bio preservatives. Preliminary studies indicated that 1.5% (w/v) solution of carrageenan as bio-polymer and 0.10% (v/v) oregano with 0.15% (v/v) thyme EOs in blend form as antimicrobial were suitable. Chicken meat patties wrapped with edible film incorporated with aforementioned EOs, packaged aerobically were stored at refrigeration temperature (4 ± 1 °C) for further studies. Results of refrigeration storage, showed that control samples had significantly higher pH and thiobarbituric acid reacting substances value than EOs treated products. There were significantly lower microbial counts observed in treatment samples (with EOs) and found well within permissible limit as compared to control. All the treatment samples showed lower or comparable flavour score in regard with control. It was found that shelf-life of chicken meat patties increased significantly (P < 0.05) during refrigerated storage and showed acceptable quality up to storage period of 30 days.