Shelf-life extension of chilled and superchilled dark-cutting beef held under combined anoxic master packaging and high-oxygen packaging both enriched with carbon dioxide

Abstract

The microbiological and quality attributes of dark-cutting (DC) beef were assessed during chilled and superchilled anoxic packaging storage (80% CO2 MP: 80% CO2/20% N2; 40% CO2 MP: 40% CO2/60% N2; VP: vacuum packaging) followed by a chilled high-oxygen packaging display period (HiOx-MAP: 60% O2/40% CO2). During storage, both MP steaks showed lower (P < 0.05) purge loss and pH than VP steaks, and superchilling significantly suppressed lipid oxidation. The following HiOx-MAP produced a bright red color in all steaks during display, and MP storage rendered displayed steaks higher (P < 0.05) redness values than VP storage. Both superchilled MP-HiOx systems exerted the best preservation for DC beef with lower bacterial counts and TVB-N values among the packaging types, in which the display-life was prolonged to 14 days after 21-days storage. Despite the levels of CO2 influenced microbiota dynamics during anoxic storage, Carnobacterium finally became the predominant bacteria under HiOx-MAP.