Quality monitoring of MA packed poultry meat by headspace measurements

Electronic nose may provide a novel tool for the quality control purposes of various perishable food products. The aim of this study was to test the applicability of electronic nose (NST 3320, Applied Sensor, Sweden) for the quality control of modified atmosphere (MA) packed broiler chicken cuts stored at different temperature conditions. Microbiological and sensory analyses as well as headspace gas chromatographic measurements were used as the reference methods. Fresh broiler chicken cuts packed in the gas mixture of 80% CO2 + 20% N2 were stored for 14 days at three different temperature profiles one of which was constant (+6°C) and the others were variable. The variable temperatures simulated an ideal distribution chain with constant cold chain and a distribution chain with unfavourable temperature variations. During the shelf-life study, electronic nose, microbiological and sensory analyses were used to evaluate the quality of the samples. In addition concentrations of hydrogen sulphide and dimethyl sulphide in the packages were determined using gas chromatographic techniques. The results obtained with the electronic nose and the reference methods were highly consistent. Electronic nose appeared to be capable of detecting even the early signals of spoilage in poultry meat