Extension of shelf life of chicken meat ball by adopting combination of packaging technique and storage temperature

A study was conducted to appraise the shelf life of chicken meatball packed in PET/Poly and laminate of metalized PET/Poly with polyethylene pouches under aerobic and vacuum packaging and kept in refrigerator (4±1° C) and freezer (-18±1° C). The samples were analyzed for pH, Thiobarbituric Acid (TBA) Value, Tyrosine value, Total Plate Count (TPC), Total Psychrophilic Count (TPSC), Yeast and Mould Count (YMC), colour, flavour and tenderness. pH, TBA value, Tyrosine value, TPC, TPSC and YMC of the samples increased with the storage period whereas colour, flavour and tenderness decreased throughout the storage period. Irrespective of the packaging material, chicken meatballs were acceptable upto 14th and 21st day of refrigerated storage in aerobic and vacuum packaging respectively. In the freezer storage, the shelf life of the meatballs was 40 days in aerobic packaging and 80 days in vacuum packaging.