Vacuum or modified atmosphere packaging and EDTA-nisin treatment to increase poultry product shelf life

These experiments sought to increase the shelf life of poultry by treatment with a disodium ethylenediametetra-acetate (EDTA) and nisin (NIS) combination and storage under modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) or vacuum packaging (VP). Chicken drummettes were soaked with various combination of EDTA and NIS for 30 min at 15 degrees C and stored at 4 degrees C. Part treated with EDTA-NIS stored under VP had significantly lower (P less than or equal to.01) total aerobic plate counts than untreated controls stored under aerobic conditions. EDTA-NIS increased shelf life by a minimum of 4 days when packaged in aerobic conditions and a maximum of 9 days when vacuum packed. A second experiment evaluated the VP and EDTA-NIS combinations in more detail. Parts treated with EDTA-NIS stored under VP had significantly different (P less than or equal to.01) aerobic counts from parts treated with EDTA-NIS stored under aerobic conditions or untreated control parts. EDTA-NIS treatment increased shelf life 4 to 7 days in the second experiment. The results indicate that a combination of EDTA-NIS treatment and vacuum packaging has the potential to significantly increase the shelf life of raw processed poultry.