Shelf-Life Extension and Sanitation of Fresh Pork Loin by E-Beam Treatment

Abstract

The usefulness of electron beam (E-beam) irradiation to increase the shelf life of whole fresh pork loin stored at 4°C has been studied. The shelf life was extended from 5 to 11 and 20 days after the application of 1 and 2 kGy, respectively. If a temperature abuse situation were to occur during product distribution (e.g., increase to 8°C), the shelf life would be extended from 3 to 8 and 15 days, respectively, after application of the same doses. When considering Listeria monocytogenes from a public health point of view, the irradiated whole fresh loin may be marketable for periods longer than 2 weeks, thus guaranteeing a practically Listeria-free product. Irradiation produced no important changes in the rheological characteristics of the meat. Although the sensory quality of irradiated meat was scored lower than the control immediately after irradiation, after 5 days in storage, irradiated meat scored higher than or not different from the control.

Use of E-Beam for Shelf-Life Extension and Sanitizing of Marinated Pork Loin

“…The effect of E-beam treatment (1 and 2 kGy) on the former parameters was negligible, except for WHC (Table 1). These results, excluding the latter feature, are in total agreement with previous data obtained for E-beam treated fresh pork loin [30]. The effect of radiation on the pH has been of concern of other authors.…”

“…The slices showed a significant increase of the WHC ( P < 0.05) just after the E-beam treatment. This result is completely opposite to what occurred in fresh loin, in which a decrease of the WHC was found [30]. Other authors [51, 53] have also reported a decrease in WHC, an increase in soluble protein, and exudates loss in irradiated pork longissimus dorsi muscle.…”

“…These data allow to approximately determine a D -value of about 0.90 kGy. This value is much higher than the one previously estimated in whole fresh loin [30]. The initial microbiota of raw intact meat is very complex.…”

“…It does not last any longer than 5–7 days under refrigeration [30]. It may be considered that the marinated pork also has a short shelf-life since this is an uncooked product.…”

Effect of Electron Beam Irradiation on Selected Vegetable Seeds and Plant-Pathogenic Microorganisms

“…전자선을 식품에 조사할 경우에 식품에서 맛이나 영양에 큰 영향을 미치지 않고 미생물의 세포수를 크게 감소시키거나 또는 미생물을 제거하여서 저장성을 증가시켰다는 것이 보고 되었다 [2,6,7,10,11,16]. 또한 식물 종자의 살균에 전자선이 효과적이었다는 보고도 있다 [15] .…”