title: Microbiological quality and biogenic amines in ready-to-eat grilled chicken fillets under vacuum packing, freezing, and high-dose irradiation.
abstract: The combined effects of cooking, vacuum packing, freezing, and high-dose gamma irradiation in the microbiological conservation and in biogenic amine (BA) contents of ready-to-eat grilled breast chicken fillets are investigated in this work. After seasoning, cooking, and vacuum packing, one-third of the samples were stored at -25°C (T1). The remaining two-thirds were treated with 48 kGy, one-third being stored at -25°C (T2) and the other one-third kept at room temperature (T3). All samples were periodically analyzed to determine growth of heterotrophic aerobic mesophilic bacteria (HAMB) and levels of BA (tyramine, TYM; putrescine, PUT; cadaverine, CAD; spermidine, SPD; histamine, HYM; and spermine, SPM). Variance analysis was performed to determine significant changes in the measured data. Grilling caused HAMB counts in seasoned samples to drop from 5.3 log cfu/g to zero. In addition, no viable HAMB cells were detected in the samples throughout the 12-mo storage time. Regarding the BA analyses, the highest mean levels were measured for SPM and CAD with significantly higher levels (P < 0.05) being determined in nonirradiated samples (T1). Furthermore, significantly lower mean levels for the total content of BA were observed in the irradiated samples. Relative to T1 (7.5 ± 1.5 mg/kg), the figures were 47 ± 23% for T2 and 60 ± 25% for T3, mostly due to loss of CAD by radiolysis. Therefore, it can be concluded that the combination of grilling, vacuum packing, freezing, and high-dose gamma irradiation efficiently eliminated HAMB, while sustaining acceptable levels of BA in ready-to-eat chicken breast fillets throughout the 12 mo of storage at room temperature.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Physicochemical Control, Department of Food Technology, Federal Fluminense University, Niterói, Brazil, 24230-340.
authors.forename: R F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Baptista
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Physicochemical Control, Department of Food Technology, Federal Fluminense University, Niterói, Brazil, 24230-340.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lemos
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Physicochemical Control, Department of Food Technology, Federal Fluminense University, Niterói, Brazil, 24230-340.
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Teixeira
authors.affiliation: Section Defense Nuclear Technology, Center of the Army (CTEx), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Vital
authors.affiliation: Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil carlasilvacarneiro@gmail.com.
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Carneiro
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Physicochemical Control, Department of Food Technology, Federal Fluminense University, Niterói, Brazil, 24230-340.
authors.forename: E T
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Mársico
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Physicochemical Control, Department of Food Technology, Federal Fluminense University, Niterói, Brazil, 24230-340.
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Conte Júnior
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Physicochemical Control, Department of Food Technology, Federal Fluminense University, Niterói, Brazil, 24230-340.
authors.forename: S B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Mano
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001679:Biogenic Amines / Q000032:analysis*; D002645:Chickens; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D003296:Cooking; D005511:Food Handling / Q000379:methods*; D018857:Food Packaging / Q000379:methods; D061353:Food Storage; D005615:Freezing; D005720:Gamma Rays; D008460:Meat / Q000032:analysis* / Q000382:microbiology*; D010369:Pectoralis Muscles / Q000382:microbiology / Q000502:physiology; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D001679:Biogenic Amines
keywords: chicken fillet; hurdle technology; irradiation; preservation; shelf life