Packaging method does alter boneless-skinless chicken breast fillet characteristics

Vacuum packaging of fresh boneless-skinless chicken breast is not widely used throughout the United States for marketing fresh chicken at the retail level. Evaluating technology such as vacuum packaging could improve the storage of fresh chicken. Boneless-skinless chicken breast was purchased from a commercial processor and packaged in one of six packaging treatments to evaluate the effects on surface color, odor evaluation, pH, microbial growth, and lipid oxidation throughout a 28-day refrigerated storage. Objective surface color of chicken breasts became lighter (p < 0.0001), less red (p = 0.0001) and less yellow (p < 0.0001) with increased storage time. Additionally, no change was observed in pH during storage duration (p = 0.2831). A spoilage threshold of 7-log cfu/g was established at the beginning of the study, and neither lactic acid bacteria (p = 0.2798), anerobic plate count (p < 0.0001) nor aerobic plate counts (p < 0.0001) reached the project threshold of 7-log cfu/g. Lipid oxidation was greatest (p < 0.0001) on day 21 of the storage period. In addition, subjective odor values increased over storage time (p < 0.0001) reaching an unacceptable threshold after 14 days. Results indicate that vacuum packaging is a method that can be used for extending storage life and quality attributes of fresh chicken retail products.