Utilisation of pullulan active packaging incorporated with curcumin and pullulan mediated silver nanoparticles to maintain the quality and shelf life of broiler meat

Broiler meat can provide an appropriate environment for the microbial intensification, resulting in the lipid and protein oxidation and physico-chemical degradation. The utilisation of the anti-oxidants prevents meat degradation and human health challenges by preventing meat physico-chemical characteristics. Pullulan active packaging incorporated with green silver nanoparticles, as anti-oxidants, has not been reported in broiler meat preservation. Therefore, the impact of pullulan active packaging, incorporated with curcumin and pullulan mediated silver nanoparticles (C-AgNPs, P-AgNPs) on broiler meat was determined in the current study for 14 days of refrigerated storage at 4 +/- 1 degrees C. A total of 120 broiler birds were reared for clean meat production and divided into 4 treatment groups (PF-CTRL, PF-C-AgNPs, PF-P-AgNPs, PF-M-AgNPs). Pullulan active packaging maintained meat textural attributes and pigment stability and breast muscle pH (6.11). Broiler meat treated with pullulan active packaging incorporated with curcumin arbitrated AgNPs (PF-C-AgNPs) indicated significantly higher oxidative stability (p = .000), water holding capacity (p = .002), expressible fluids (p = .000), and shear force values (p = .000) along with significantly lower cooking losses (p = .000), pH (p = .000), and shear force energy (p = .000) as compared to the control (CTRL) and other treatment groups. Broiler breast meat samples treated with pullulan active packaging expressed a "lighter" appearance (53.61 +/- 3.64) during the refrigerated storage of 14 days. Moreover, significant differences were recorded in the oxidative stability/MDA (mg/kg) concentrations amongst the controlled and the treated groups on day 7th (p = .000) and day 14th (p = .000) of refrigerated storage. The current study confirms that the pullulan active packaging, incorporated with curcumin arbitrated silver nanoparticles (PF-C-AgNPs) followed by pullulan active meat packaging incorporated with pullulan mediated silver nanoparticles (PF-P-AgNPs) maintained the textural and physico-chemical meat attributes along with minimal oxidative rancidity in 14 days of storage. It is concluded that PF-C-AgNPs and PF-P-AgNPs can be a safer antioxidant alternate to preserve broiler meat quality and oxidative stability with a prolonged shelf life.