Effects of packaging method and storage time on the chemical, microbiological, and sensory properties of Turkish pastirma – A dry cured beef product

The effects of packaging method (aerobic packaging (AP), vacuum packaging (VP) or modified atmosphere packaging (MAP)), the form of pastirma (sliced or non-sliced) and storage time (0, 15, 30, 60, 90 or 120 days) on the chemical, microbiological and sensory properties of a Turkish pastirma were investigated. Overall, MAP preserved chemical, microbiological and sensory properties of Turkish pastirma better than AP or VP. Very high correlation coefficients (almost all >0.90) were observed between subjective quality parameters (sensory properties) and objective quality parameters (TBARS, hexanal content, L∗, a∗, and b∗), which suggests that sensory panel was able to determine the quality changes over storage time precisely. Based on the results of this study, MAP should be the preferred choice of packaging in order to preserve overall quality of Turkish pastirma and its implication for pastirma packaging may increase pastirma’s current share in the processed meat product market.