Effect of moderate intensity pulsed electric field on shelf-life of chicken breast meat.

1. Moderate intensity pulsed electric field (MIPEF) is a fairly new research topic for microbial inactivation on muscle foods. In this study, indirect application of MIPEF (2.5 kV/cm, 4.67 kV/cm, 7 kV/cm) was evaluated in terms of the growth of some pathogenic bacteria and the quality characteristics of chicken breast meat during cold storage (4°C).2. This study was conducted in two stages. In the first stage, pure cultures of and were inoculated in broth and stored in a refrigerator at 4°C under MIPEF. Both and showed a remarkable resistance to MIPEF under 4.67 kV/cm and 7 kV/cm, respectively.3. In the second stage, MIPEF was applied to packaged chicken breast samples. The limit for total mesophilic aerobic bacteria (TMAB) count was exceeded in 4.67 and 7 kV/cm applied groups 2 d later than seen in the control group (C). Almost 2 log differences were determined for total coliform bacteria in 4.67 and 7 kV/cm applied groups as compared to C ( < 0.05). Inoculated count remained the same, whereas growth was promoted by 4.67 kV/cm ( < 0.05).4. pH value, CIE L*, b*, C* colour values of chicken breast fillets were not affected by MIPEF application while ΔE values showed the maximum change in the C group.5. This study demonstrated that improved shelf-life of chicken breast fillets was provided by moderate intensity DC-pulses in combination with cold storage.