Effect of Packaging and Storage conditions on the Shelf life of Poultry

Abstract

Poultry is used as a synonymous to chicken as they are more commonly found and are of great newlineimportance for meat and eggs. It acts as a key supplement to revenue from crops and other livestock newlineenterprises, avoiding over dependency on traditional commodities with inconsistent prices. Poultry newlinecontributes to improved human nutrition and food security by being a leading source of high quality newlineprotein in the form of eggs and meat.Chicken meat is an extremely sensitive food compared with other newlinecommodities during storage.For fresh meat, vacuum packaging has proven to be efficient in preserving newlinethe sensory parameters inherent to the product for sufficiently long period for its turnover. In the newlineprocess of vacuum packaging, a pressure differential exists between the exterior and interior newlinepackage.The package is used to protect the product against the deteriorative effects of the external newlineenvironment, communicate with the consumer as a marketing tool, provide the consumer with greater newlineease of use and time-saving convenience, and contain products of various sizes and shapes. Fresh meat newlinecan be kept chilled or frozen; the maintenance temperature for the entire chain must be constant to newlineensure that the product keeps a uniform temperature. Applications of natural products with both newlineantioxidants and antimicrobial additives in meat products may be useful to prolong the shelf life of newlinemeat. Therefore, minimizing lipid oxidation and delaying or inhibiting product contamination, growth newlineof spoilage and pathogenic organisms in the product are major keys for improving fresh meat shelf life newlineand increasing consumer safety.This article is focused on techniques intended to predict the shelf life newlineof meat and analysing the technological, microbiological and physicochemical qualities from newlinemeasurements carried out on fresh intact meat.