APC values and volatile compounds formed in commercially processed, raw chicken parts during storage at 4 and 13 �C and under simulated temperature abuse conditions

Abstract

Skinless chicken breast fillets, thighs, wings and boneless breast with skin were selected from the production line of a commercial processor. Samples were evaluated over time in storage at 4 and 13 °C and under temperature abuse conditions for microbial proliferation and production of volatile compounds (VCs). Aerobic plate counts (APCs) were enumerated and VCs quantitated at 24 h storage intervals; however, APC increases were not reflected by significant correlations with headspace VCs. Compounds isolated from sample headspaces by solid phase microextraction (SPME) and direct headspace sampling and then analysed by gas chromatography (GC), gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and gas chromatography/chemiluminescence detection (GC/SCD) were hydrogen sulphide, methanethiol, ethanol, acetone, C5, C6 and C7 hydrocarbons, dimethyl sulphide, methyl ethyl ketone, carbon disulphide, 1-propanol, ethyl acetate, 1-butanol, S-methyl thioacetate, 3-methyl-1-butanol, dimethyl disulphide and dimethyl trisulphide. Compounds appearing in the samples with any degree of consistency and therefore considered pertinent for these analyses were ethanol, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, ethyl acetate, hydrogen sulfide, dimethyl sulphide and carbon disulphide. Elevated APCs and VC diversity occurred more prevalently in those samples from higher-temperature storage. Published in 2000 for SCI by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.