A simple method to evaluate the shelf life of refrigerated rabbit meat

The shelf life of rabbit meat during refrigerated storage was investigated under industrial conditions. Rabbit carcasses were bulk packed (BP), packed under air (PUA) and under modified atmosphere (MAP) (30% O2:40% CO2:30% N2). The main groups studied were mesophilic aerobes, psychrotrophic aerobes, Pseudomonas spp., lactic acid bacteria, yeast and moulds and Enterobacteriaceae. The microorganisms that showed faster growth were psychrotrophic aerobes (growth rate of 0.36 ± 0.09 day−1) for BP, Pseudomonas (0.26 ± 0.03 day−1) for PUA, and lactic acid bacteria (0.22 ± 0.01 day−1) for MAP, and the lag phases were 4, 4 and 8 days, respectively. The main effect of MAP was the increase in lag phase from 4 to 8 days, for lactic acid bacteria, psychrotrophic and mesophilic aerobes. The respective growth rates were similar to those observed with PUA. In addition, MAP inhibited Pseudomonas growth during 18 days. Considering 6 log CFU g−1 as maximum tolerable microbial load, the calculated values of shelf life in BP, PUA and MAP were 6, 7 and 12 days, respectively, when considering the fastest growing microorganisms.