Effect of Antimicrobial Packaging Film Coated with Ajowan and Cinnamon Essential Oil on Shelf Life of Fresh Chilled Pork

Abstract

This work was aimed to explore the effect of antimicrobial packaging film coated with ajowan and cinnamon essential oil (EO) on shelf life of fresh chilled pork. Antimicrobial compound solution was prepared with ajowan EO, cinnamon EO, polyvinyl alcohol, glycerol, corn starch and distilled water according to a certain proportion, and it was coated on the corona-treated PP/EVA film to prepare antimicrobial films. The fresh pork was divided into 5 groups and packaged in bags which was made of films as follow, the blank PP/EVA film was used as the control group, and the antimicrobial films contain combination EO with concentration of 0.4, 0.8, 1.2 and 1.6% were recorded as BF1, BF2, BF3 and BF4 group respectively, and all groups were stored at 4 ℃. The total viable count (TVC), total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), pH, TBARS value and sensory quality of pork were tested for evaluating the effect of antimicrobial packaging film on quality of pork. The results showed that BF4 antimicrobial film could reduce the increase of TVC, TVB-N, pH and TBARS value of pork significantly (P < 0.05), and the BF4 film was superior to other kinds of antimicrobial film on maintaining the sensory quality of fresh pork. In conclusion, the fresh chilled pork packed in BF4 film presented the best quality and its shelf life was extended for 4 days.