Combined effect of vacuum packaging and refrigerated storage on the chemical quality of paneer tikka.

Paneer tikka, a popular dish for vegetarians, is a tongue tingling favourite of Indian gourmets. It is a perishable commodity which requires more than five hours for its preparation. The shelf life of paneer tikka is hardly one day at room temperature which impedes its proper marketing. In order to enhance the shelf life of paneer tikka, the product was vacuum packed in two high barrier packages, viz., LLDPE(*)/BA(†)/Nylon-6/BA/LDPE(‡) (110 μ, (*)linear low density polyethylene, (†)binding agent, (‡)low density polyethylene) and metallized polyester/LDPE (20/75 μ) along with LDPE (100 μ) as control, and stored at 3 ± 1 °C. The stored samples were evaluated at 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 day(s) for changes in chemical characteristics, namely moisture, pH, titratable acidity, free fatty acids content, tyrosine content and water activity. The analysis of variance of the data revealed that type of packages had significant influence on all the above parameters excluding water activity during storage of paneer tikka.