Shelf-Life of Boiled Salted Duck Meat Stored Under Normal and Modified Atmosphere

The objective of this study was to investigate the physicochemical properties and changes in the microbial counts of boiled salted duck (BSD) meat packed under various conditions. BSD meat was stored under normal atmosphere (C) and two modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) conditions: M1 (N-2, 100%) and M2 (CO2/N-2, 30%/70%) at 4 degrees C. Microbiological quality, pH, redness, lipid oxidation, headspace gas composition, and water activity of BSD meat were measured. The results showed that the time to reach the maximum acceptable total viable counts (TVC, 4.9 log CFU/g) was 12, 18, and 21 d in C, M1, and M2 samples, respectively. Significant difference in the redness values was observed in all treatments during storage. The redness value of C group was significantly lower than that in M1 and M2 groups at the end of storage. The thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) values under MAP were 0.24 to 0.26 mg MDA/kg meat at the end of storage, lower (P < 0.05) than that in C group (0.78 mg MDA/kg meat). The water activity in M2 group was the lowest among all 3 groups. The CO2 concentration in M2 decreased significantly during storage. Our study demonstrates that packaging with 30% CO2 and 70% N-2 (M2) could extend the shelf-life of BSD meat to 21 d during storage at 4 degrees C, suggesting that MAP can be a practical approach to extend the shelf-life and maintain the quality of BSD products.