Combined Effect of an Active AgIon^® Absorbent Pad and a Chitosan Coating on the Preservation of Fresh Beef

Abstract

In the present study, the combined effect of an AgIon® antimicrobial absorbent (Ζ) pad and a chitosan coating (C) on the preservation of fresh beef stored aerobically at 5 °C was investigated. Microbiological, physicochemical, and sensory attributes were monitored for up to 10 days of storage. The microbiological data indicated that the C and chitosan coating plus absorbent pad (CZ) treatments were the most efficient in reducing total viable counts (TVC) by 4.09 and 3.53 log cfu/g compared to the control W and Z treatments on day 4 of storage (p p p ® antimicrobial absorbent pad, which showed practically no antimicrobial activity in direct contact with beef meat.

Keywords

• active packaging
• chitosan
• microbiological/chemical/sensory analysis
• beef shelf life