Effects of active modified atmosphere on lipid and protein oxidation, moisture migration and quality properties of beef steaks

Fresh beef is a typically perishable food because of its high water and protein content; thus, it requires proper packaging condition and storage temperature to ensure its quality. In this study, the beef steaks were stored at 4 degrees C under HiO(2) modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) (78.8% O-2 + 18.8% CO2 + 2.4% N-2) and HiCO(2) MAP (60.0% CO2 + 40.0% N-2). The traditional air packaging (AP) and vacuum packaging (VP) were used as the controls. The total viable count (TVC), colour, water holding capacity (WHC), myofibrillar protein (MP) oxidation and lipid oxidation of beef meat were investigated. The moisture distribution and migration were also analysed using the low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR). The association amongst all parameters was analysed by correlation analysis and principal component analysis (PCA). The results showed that the TVC values in the HiCO(2) MAP (5.6 log CFU/g) steaks were lower than those of VP (5.9 log CFU/g), AP (7.0 log CFU/g) and HiO(2) MAP (6.3 log CFU/g) steaks because of the sufficient CO2 after 15 days of chilled storage. The bright red colour and the higher WHC were maintained in the HiO(2) MAP steaks than in the AP group during storage. However, higher levels of protein and lipid oxidation also occurred. The beef steaks stored under HiCO(2) MAP had the lowest protein and lipid oxidation and highest value of immobile water content and WHC, however, similar to the VP group, the bright red colour was not shown. The moisture attributes (drip loss, cooking loss and P-23), protein oxidation (protein solubility and carbonyl content) and lipid oxidation (TBARS value) have shown a close correlation by correlation analysis and PCA. Overall, two different packaging methods of MAP can prolong microbial-shelf life and maintain higher WHC of beef steaks compared to AP and VP steaks, but higher oxidation level in HiO(2) MAP and unattractive colour in HiCO(2) MAP are concerns that need to be addressed.