Effects of pallet and vacuum packaging on quality of chilled mutton

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of pallet and vacuum packaging on chilled meat's quality. In this study, chilled mutton was packaged in Nylon / chlorinated- polypropylene( PA / CPP), Nylon /polyethylene(PA/PE) vacuum packaging materials and general-purpose pallet,respectively. Samples was stored for 20 days at 4 ℃,vacuum degree of 0.08 MPa. Drip loss rate,p H,total volatile basic nitrogen(TVB-N),color,total viable counts were determined during the storage period. The results showed that compared with pallet packaging,the vacuum-packed samples had the significant higher drip loss during the storage period.Total microbial counts and TVB-N values of ordinary pallet packaging were higher than vacuum packaging significantly(p>0.05). Among two vacuum-packed groups,PA/CPP group had the lower drip loss,but the difference between PA/PE group was not significant. Therefore,vacuum packaging could effectively extended the shelf-life,and the influences of the two packaging materials PA/CPP and PA/PE on chilled mutton quality were not significant(p>0.05).