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Page No. : 82-88

ABSTRACT

The effect of electron beam irradiation on microbiological, physico-chemical and sensorial qualities and shelf-life of chicken nuggets stored at refrigeration temperature was studied. Chicken nugget samples were treated with 3.0, 3.5 and 4.5 kGy of electron beam irradiation doses. The total viable counts, S. aureus and yeast and mold counts of irradiated samples showed significant reduction with the increase in irradiation dose. Whereas, none of the control and electron beam irradiated samples showed presence of E. coli, Salmonella spp., Listeria, Pseudomonas spp. and B. cereus counts throughout the storage. The pH, TBA and tyrosine values of both control and irradiated samples increased as the storage period advanced. The colour determination of chicken nuggets revealed that the L* values increased with the increasing storage period. However, a*values decreased as the storage period advanced. Thus, the study concluded that, amongst all the electron beam irradiation doses used, 4.5 kGy was effective for the shelf-life extension of chicken nuggets upto 39 days at refrigeration storage temperature.

Keywords: Chicken nuggets, electron beam irradiation, microbiological quality, shelf-life