Effect of packaging conditions on the shelf-life of chicken frankfurters with and without lactate addition.

Shelf-life of frankfurters depends on various factors such as its composition, packaging material and method used as well as the effect of external conditions (temperature). The objective of this study was to determine the shelf-life of packaged (vacuum, shrink and modified atmosphere, MA) chicken frankfurters during storage at different temperatures. For this purpose regular and with sodium lactate addition chicken frankfurters were produced. For MA packaging (MAP), under gas mixture of 70% N(2) and 30% CO(2), a package consisting of container and heat sealable cover was used. Different laminate composition was used for vacuum and shrink packaging of frankfurters. During frankfurters storage physico-chemical (pH, a(w)), and microbiological (aerobic mesophiles, lactic acid bacteria and total bacterial count) analyses were performed. Packaging materials were analyzed for their barrier characteristic (oxygen permeability). The shelf-life of frankfurters can be extended if packaged in MA (54 days) and shrink (45 days) packaging compared to 36 days of shelf-life in vacuum packaging, at 3 (°)C. Higher shelf-life is obtained for frankfurters with lactate addition, in all packaging conditions, stored at 6 (°)C.