Shelf life of fresh chilled pork as affected by antimicrobial intervention with nisin, tea polyphenols, chitosan, and their combination

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study was to evaluate pathogenic and spoilage bacteria counts, physicochemical properties of fresh chilled pork treated with chitosan, nisin, and tea polyphenols along with their combination during storage at 4°C for 11 days. The result showed that treatments with chitosan, nisin, and tea polyphenols alone significantly (P < .05) reduced bacteria population (total viable counts (TVC), lactic acid bacteria, pseudomonas spp., staphylococcus spp., brochothrix thermosphacta, and enterobacteriaceae) on fresh chilled pork. The TVC of sample treated with a combination of nisin, tea polyphenols, and chitosan (N-TP-C) decreased from 7.2 to 5.95 log₁₀ CFU/g at 11th day. It was also found from TVB-N, TBARS, pH, color, water-holding capacity, and texture measurement that the N-TP-C combination treatment significantly maintained good quality and extended the shelf life of fresh chilled pork up to 11 days. In conclusion, it could be suggested that the combination with nisin, tea polyphenols, and chitosan has great potential to preserve fresh chilled pork.

KEYWORDS:

• chitosan
• nisin
• tea polyphenols
• bacterial counts
• preservation

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests. The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant no. 31571912] and the Major Science and Technology Special Project of Henan province [grant no. 161100110600].