Effect of different wrap films on physico-chemical, sensory and microbiological quality characteristics of tray packaged boneless chicken chunks stored at -18±2°C

The need for the proper and convenient packaging methods of meat like tray packaging is surging in India. The current study is designed to evaluate influence of low density polyethylene(LDPE), linear low density polyethylene(LLDPE), high density polyethylene(HDPE) and polyvinylchloride(PVC) wrap films on various physico-chemical (pH, instrumental colour, water activity, Warner-Bratzler shear force, TBARS, tyrosine value and extract release volume), sensory and microbiological (total plate count, yeast and mold count, coliform count and psychrophilic count) attributes of boneless chicken at frozen (-18±2°C) conditions. About 200g of deboned chicken was aerobically packed separately in food grade polypropylene trays, heat sealed and studied at 1 month interval for 3 months. In frozen storage deboned chicken had good qualities in case of all the treatment films for a period of 3 months. Tray packaged chicken sealed with HDPE film had better qualities and chicken sealed with PVC film had better colour (L, a, b) characteristics than that of other films. Thus, it can be concluded that tray packaging of meat sealed with HDPE film can be successfully used under frozen conditions for maintenance of better quality.