Effect of Different Packaging Methods on the Quality Characteristics of Buffalo Meat during Refrigerated Storage

To investigate the effect of different packaging methods on the quality characteristics of buffalo meat during refrigerated storage, buffalo meat was used as raw material, and meat samples were packaged with pallet packaging, film-coating with pallet packaging, vacuum packaging, respectively, and then stored at 4 ℃. The quality indicators, including the color, pH, centrifugal loss, cooking loss, volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), carbonyl content, total number of colonies and the number of coliforms, etc. were analyzed. The results showed that with the extension of the refrigeration time，the L* and a* values of buffalo meat with three packaging methods continued to decrease, but the cooking loss, b* value, volatile basic nitrogen, carbonyl content, total number of colonies and number of coliforms continued to increase, and the pH and centrifugal loss showed a dynamic change trend of first decline and then rise. The TVB-N value of the pallet packaging group reached 17.56 mg/100 g at the 6th day of cold storage, the TVB-N value of the film-coating with pallet packaging group reached 19.17 mg/100 g at the 10th day of cold storage, and the TVB-N value of the vacuum packaging group reached 16.20 mg/100 g at the 15th day of cold storage, exceeding the national standard limit (15 mg/100 g). Among the three packaging methods, vacuum packaging could not only maintain the color and water holding capacity of buffalo meat, decrease TVB-N, the total number of colonies and the number of coliforms, but also effectively inhibit the protein oxidation. Therefore, vacuum packaging had the best effect on maintaining the quality of buffalo meat, and its fresh-keeping effect was better than that of pallet packaging and film-coating with pallet packaging.