The effect of chitosan coating and vacuum packaging on the microbiological and chemical properties of beef.

Beef is an animal food sensitive to deterioration due to its rich nutrient content. Therefore, some preservation techniques are applied. These include vacuum packaging, a modified atmosphere, a controlled atmosphere and an edible film coating. In this study, it was aimed to extend the shelf life of beef using vacuum packaging (VP) and chitosan coating with vacuum packaging (CC + VP). For this purpose, total mesophilic aerobic bacteria (TMAB), Stapylococcus aureus, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) counts, thiobarbituric acid (TBA) values and total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) content were analyzed in beef obtained from local markets. As a result, it was found that the chitosan coating reduced the TMAB, LAB and TVB-N values and inhibited all S. aureus up to day 15 of storage. In addition, it was seen that the application of CC + VP was significantly more effective (p˂0.05) on the reduction of the TBA value, compared to the VP application over a long period of storage (45 days). The combined use of the two technologies is more effective on TVB-N. According to the data obtained from this study, because of the antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of chitosan, it has been concluded that it can be used as a bio-preservative in the meat industry.