Abstract:The changes in the pH, total volatile base nitrogen (TVB-N), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), textural and structural characteristics, sensory score, and total colony count of the deep-fried goose breasts in vacuum packaging stored at -18, 4, and 25 ℃ were determined. To construct a shelf-life model, the modified Gompertz and Arrhenius models combined with kinetic equations were used to fit the total colony counts, and the prediction accuracy of the model was assessed to ensure its feasibility. The analysis reveals thatlow-temperature storage could slow down the deterioration of meat quality and prolong its shelf life to a certain extent i.e. the decreases of pH, elasticity and hardness were slown down, and the increases of malondialdehyde, TVB-N and total colon count were inhibited; At 25 ℃, the TBARS value increased significantly in the second week of storage, and the corresponding total colony counts increased at a higher rate during this time period. The sensory evaluation score of the meat samples declined to an unacceptable levels after storage for 4, 3, and 2 weeks. The regression coefficients of Arrhenius model for the fitting based on total colony counts were basically within the acceptable range, but the variations between the predicted values and the actual results were more than 10%, whilst the Gompertz model's regression coefficients R2 were higher than 0.98 with smaller variations, indicating that the shelf-lifes of the goose meat stored at 4, 15, and 25 ℃ predicted by the model, was were approximately 25, 12, and 9 days, respectively. The established model can provide practical guidance for real-time control of the storage and distribution conditions to extend the shelf life of deep-fried goose breasts.
