Extension of chicken fillets shelf life using genetically improved probiotic strain and chitosan

Abstract

Fresh poultry meat products are perishable and need to be protected from spoilage. New or modified preservation techniques are needed to overcome the limitations of the traditional techniques. Therefore, six different coating solutions were evaluated to extend the shelf life of chicken fillets under refrigeration condition. The novel chitosan-based mix (T6) containing a bacteriocins-hyperproducer fusant, EDTA and sodium acetate was the treatment of choice since it improved film properties such as the reduction of water vapor permeability and the enhancement of the antimicrobial effect. Coating chicken fillets with the T6 mix resulted in improving both of the quality and shelf life of fillets. T6 recorded the lowest TBA value (1.25) compared to 4.77 mg malondialdehyde Kg−1 of the control at the end of the cold storage. Also, it extended the microbial shelf life up to 35 days by extending both of the lag phase and generation time of spoilage microorganisms by 6 days and 44.31 h, respectively. At the same time, T6 samples exhibited the highest sensory scores. It is strongly believed that such novel preservation system could be easily applied to extend the shelf life of many of the fresh foods since it was successfully applied to extend the shelf life of fresh chicken fillets by more than 31 days compared to control with high quality.