Shelf life of boiled restructured buffalo meat rolls in refrigerated storage under vacuum packaging condition

Cooked restructured buffalo meat rolls prepared from restructuring process were stored at 4 +/- 1 degrees C in polyethylene terephthalate laminated with polythene pouches under vacuum packaging condition. The samples were evaluated for physicochemical parameters, microbial quality and sensory attributes at regular intervals of 0, 5, 10, 15, 25 and 30 days of storage. A significant decrease in pH, extract release volume values, was observed with increasing storage period. Overall days mean for moisture decreased with increasing storage period, however, no significant difference in overall days mean for moisture content was observed on from day 0 to day 30 of storage. A significant (P < 0.01) increase in thiobarbituric acid value and tyrosine value was observed with increase in storage period. Microbiological counts increased with the advancement of storage period. However, throughout the storage period, all microbial counts were within the acceptable limits of cooked meat products. Boiled restructured buffalo meat rolls did not show any symptoms of spoilage such as off odour and surface slime on day 30 of storage and were acceptable for sensory quality up to 30 days of refrigerated storage (4 +/- 1 degrees C) under vacuum packaging. Thus, the present study indicates that vacuum packaging could be used as a way to improve the shelf life of boiled restructured buffalo meat rolls without affecting the physicochemical, microbiological and sensory qualities of the products.