THE EFFECT OF WHOLESALE VACUUM AND 100-PERCENT CO2 STORAGE ON THE SUBSEQUENT MICROBIOLOGICAL, COLOR AND ACCEPTABILITY ATTRIBUTES OF PVC-OVERWRAPPED PORK LOIN CHOPS

The shelf life of chops cut from pork loins, after either vacuum or 10 0% CO2 storage (0, 7 or 14 days), was determined. The PVC-overwrapped chops were assessed, following a shelf life study of 0, 2, 5 or 7 days at 0 or 5-degrees-C, regarding quality attributes such as microbiolog ical contamination levels, colour and acceptability. The study indicat ed that according to the psychrotrophic counts, the PVC-overwrapped re tail chops, from the vacuum as well as the 100% CO2 stored pork loins (0, 7 or 14 days), still attained a conventional shelf life of 3 days. Lactic acid bacteria and pseudomonads largely represented the psychro trophic counts. No clear pattern could be detected regarding the colou r scores except that the samples displayed at 0-degrees-C tended to re tain colour longer. These samples were also judged to be more acceptab le, although the determination of acceptability was subjective.