Effect of Chitosan Coating, Vacuum Packaging and Irradiation on Microbiological and Keeping Quality of Smoked Dried Beef

The smoked and dried beef is an important traditional meat product of rural people in hilly areas. The present study was carried out to evaluate the effect of chitosan application, vacuum packaging and irradiation on microbiological and keeping quality of smoked dried beef. The minimum storage life of about 27–29 days was noticed in non irradiated aerobically packed sample and vacuum packaging and chitosan application with irradiation or vacuum packaging with irradiation alone extended the shelf life to about 78–83 days. Chitosan coating had significantly reduced the yeast and mould count throughout the storage period, whereas, significant reduction in aerobic plate counts noticed only during the initial storage period with respect to control. Irradiation had a significant effect in reducing the aerobic plate count and yeast and mould count and a synergistic effect is noticed with the addition of chitosan. Aerobic and vacuum packaging did not reveal any significant effect on aerobic plate count and yeast and mould count. Storage of the product under ambient temperature had a significant effect (P<0.05) in enhancing the aerobic plate count yeast and mould count, however with a significantly lower count in irradiated groups both in chitosan added and vacuum packed samples was observed.