Effects of bacterial-derived antimicrobial solutions on shelf-life, microbiota and sensory attributes of raw chicken legs under refrigerated storage condition.

In the present study, bacterial-derived antimicrobial agents included 5 mM reuterin combined with either 103.91 mM lactic acid (RL) or 0.08 μM microcin J25 (RJ) were evaluated for their effects on the microbiota and sensory attributes of raw chicken legs. Peracetic acid (13.67 mM), a conventional chemical commonly used in the poultry industry, was used as a positive control to compare efficacy. The chicken legs were sprayed with antimicrobial solutions and aerobically stored at 4 °C for 10 days. The RL treatment maintained the total viable count below the limit of 7 log CFU/g until the 8th day. Therefore, compared to the nontreated group, shelf-life was extended by 3 days in the RL treated group. The RJ treatment extended the shelf-life to 7 days, which is similar to what was achieved with the use of peracetic acid. Based on culture-independent amplicon sequencing, the RL and RJ treatments affected the microbial community on the chicken legs, inducing a delay in the increase of Pseudomonas, Psychrobacter and Carnobacterium while decreasing of Shigella. Significant decreases in sensory scores occurred in the nontreated group, while slight changes occurred in the combinations treated groups over the same period. Overall, sensory property scores for chicken legs treated with RL and RJ remained higher (P < 0.05) than those treated with peracetic acid or without antimicrobial agents. The antimicrobial combinations delayed the deterioration of sensory attributes throughout the storage period. These results suggest that RL and RJ provide a promising natural-sourced antimicrobial approach to control the growth of spoilage microorganisms on chicken legs.