Effect of different irradiation dose treatment on the lipid oxidation, instrumental color and volatiles of fresh pork and their changes during storage

This study mainly investigated the effect of different doses irradiation (0, 3, 5 or 7 kGy) on the quality changes of pork during 4 °C storage by determining the irradiation off-odor intensity, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARs), fatty acid composition, volatiles and color of the samples during whole storage. The results showed that ≥ 7 kGy irradiation could make the samples produce obvious irradiation off-odor. However, after 7 days storage irradiation off-odor was reduced. Lipid oxidation was also promoted by irradiation. Benzyl methyl sulfide was produced newly and significantly increased (P < 0.05) by irradiation. Fatty acids in pork samples decreased significantly with irradiation dose increase within the range of < 7 kGy, but significantly increased (P < 0.05) in samples of 7 kGy. Irradiation significantly increased the a* values regardless of storage time but had little effects on b* and L* values, and the increase of a* values was dose-dependent.