INVESTIGATE MICROBIAL, CHEMICAL PROPERTIES AND SENSORY EVALUATION OF OSTRICH MEAT IN BILAYER FILMS CONTAINING POMEGRANATE PEEL POWDER DURING REFRIGERATED STORAGE, AS AN ACTIVE PACKAGING

Pomegranate peel is a by-product which has antioxidant and antimicrobial properties and using it as an additive to improve the meat products shelf life in active packaging has increased in the last decade. The purpose of current study is to investigate the utilization of pomegranate peel powder (PPP) in bilayer film to increase the shelf life of ostrich meat (OM) at 4 +/- 1 degrees C. In this research, OM was placed in bilayer films with different ratios of PPP (1,3,5%) then chemical and microbial experiments alongside sensory evaluation on OM were conducted on storage days (1,3,5,7,10). The results indicated that the values of chemical properties including pH, lipid oxidation and nitrogen, microbial, and sensory evaluation after 10 days in samples containing 5% PPP were lower than other samples. However, they had an undesirable color; Thus, the samples containing 3% PPP were preferred. This film was proposed as an active packaging for storing OM.