An investigation of changes in safety and quality of sucuk stuffed into active casing films

Recently, active packaging, can be observed as one of the best strategies to prevent microbial and other spoilages in meat products (such as sucuks) while maintaining them fresh, safe and in a high quality. In this study, effects of nisin, potassium sorbate, chitosan and silver zeolite (AgZeo) incorporated into polyethylene new packed system as antimicrobial case on the microbiological and physicochemical characteristics of heat treated sucuks at 65, 70 and 75oC were followed for 3 days of fermentation and 12 days of storage after the heat treatment. Microbial growth was the slowest in the nisin and chitosan casings where the total viable count of 8.00 log cfu/g was found on day 3. Higher reductions in aerobic plate count (APC) and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were noted in the sucuks stuffed into chitosan incorporated casings during storage. Color values of heat treated sucuks were not affected negatively by use of antimicrobial casings. The highest (P< 0.05) hardness values were 26.00 N in the sucuks stuffed into collagen case at the end of fermentation. Using different antimicrobial casings and storage time influenced significantly (P< 0.05) the hardness, gumminess and chewiness value of sucuks. The lowest tryptamine, putrescine, tyramine and histamine values were 12.54, 160.77, 309.81 and 46.62 mg/kg in sucuk stuffed into chitosan case at the end of fermentation respectively. Cadaverine, tryptamine, putrescine, tyramine and histamine formations in heat treated sucuks decreased (P< 0.05) by incorporation of chitosan, nisin, AgZeo and potassium sorbate. These results showed that antimicrobial cases could be used for the production of heat treated sucuks to improve its safety and quality.