Formation of biogenic amines and growth of spoilage-related microorganisms in pork stored under different packaging conditions applying PCA

- PCA was used to observe the correlation of indicators in different packaging.
- PC1 differentiated the indicators from packaging conditions.
- The evolutions of microbiota and partial biogenic amines were similar.
- Tyramine contributed to indicate the evolution for VP and MAP.
- Putrescine and cadaverine could be used as the indicators of the pork.

The objective of this study was to investigate the evolution of biogenic amines and spoilage-related microorganisms of chilled pork stored at 5 °C under various atmospheric conditions. The experimental packaging systems were pallet packaging, vacuum packaging (VP) and modified atmosphere packaging methods (MAP, 40%O2 + 40%CO2 + 20%N2), respectively. The results showed that about 74.26% of the variability could be explained by two first principal components analyzed by PCA in the pallet packaging, while in the vacuum and modified atmosphere packagings were about 85.21% and 79.14%, respectively. PC1 differentiated the indicators from packaging conditions. All the five microbial indicators and partial biogenic amines, gathering together, had high values at the positive side of PC1. Putrescine and cadaverine could reflect the spoilage evolution of fresh pork except for those in the pallet. Therefore, putrescine and cadaverine could be used as the spoilage indicators of chilled pork, of which the contents might reflect the spoilage degree.