Investigating the effects of Functional Ice (FICE) on Salmonella-food safety, microbial spoilage and quality of raw poultry thigh meat during refrigerated storage

PLoS One. 2020 Jun 19;15(6):e0234781. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0234781. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

In meat processing, antimicrobial treatment applied during slaughter and deboning may not control pathogens and spoilage organisms during subsequent transportation and storage. "Functional Ice" (FICE), an innovation over traditional ice, was investigated for its effects on food safety, shelf life, and quality of raw poultry thigh meat during refrigerated storage. FICE was prepared by freezing aqueous solutions of sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP) (2.5% and 5% w/v) and sodium lactate-sodium diacetate (SL-SD) (1% and 2.5% v/v). Potable water was used to prepare ice for the control treatment. Thigh meat inoculated with Salmonella Typhimurium (108 CFU/sample) was placed in FICE treatments, stored at 4 °C and sampled at 0, 12, 24, 36 and 48 h (n = 375). Weight pick-up was recorded for the uninoculated thighs. Additionally, shelf life and quality were evaluated for 8 days on tray-packed thighs that were stored in FICE treatments for 48 h (STPP 5%, and SL-SD 2.5%). Differences among treatments were determined using ANOVA with LSMeans (p ≤ 0.05). Results indicated that inoculated thighs stored in individual STPP 5%, and SL-SD 2.5% treatments lead to a significant reduction in Salmonella Typhimurium compared to the control (p ≤ 0.05) after 48 h of storage. FICE treated thighs showed higher yields, lower cook loss, and an extended shelf life of 1-2 days, without any color changes. FICE has the potential to improve food safety and shelf life while improving the yields and quality during storage and transportation of raw poultry meat.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Acetates / chemistry
  • Acetates / pharmacology
  • Animals
  • Cold Temperature
  • Food Safety*
  • Food Storage / methods*
  • Meat / microbiology*
  • Polyphosphates / chemistry
  • Polyphosphates / pharmacology
  • Poultry
  • Salmonella typhimurium / drug effects
  • Salmonella typhimurium / growth & development
  • Sodium Lactate / chemistry
  • Sodium Lactate / pharmacology

Substances

  • Acetates
  • Polyphosphates
  • sodium diacetate
  • triphosphoric acid
  • Sodium Lactate

Grants and funding

The research was supported through a grant award to Dr. Amit Morey from the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station (AAES) and the Hatch program of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), U.S. Department of Agriculture. The funding agency did not make any decision or influence any decision on the experiment, experiment design, data collection, and where we can publish the manuscript.