The Effect of Coating with Green Tea Extract and Collagen Fiber on Quality Attributes of Vacuum Packaged Sausage

Oxidative and microbiological degradations are the main factors that determine the quality of food and the shelf life. Color and moisture stability are important quality attributes that contribute to meat shelf life, salability and consumer acceptability. There is currently considerable interest in edible films coatings and natural antioxidants because of their potential to improve the quality and the shelf life. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of collagen fiber –based edible coating and green tea extract on physico chemical degradation in beef sausage stored at 4°C for two weeks in anaerobic packaging. Collagenbased edible coating with green tea extract (0.5 and 1% v/v) was used to reduce the oxidative degradation of sausages during two weeks of storage at 4 ͦC. Collagen fiber edible coating delayed the lipid oxidation of sausages as measured by the formation of TBARS. The moisture loss of sausages was significantly reduced by 46% with 1% tea extract coated-sausages as compared to the controls. Also, collagen and green tea extract coated-sausages were effective in maintaining the initial color of the samples.