Research Article Evaluation of the effect of neutral electrolyzed water and peroxyacetic acid alone and in combination on microbiological, chemical, and sensory characteristics of poultry meat during refrigeration storage Reihane Moghassem Hamidi, Seyed Shahram Shekarforoush , Saeid Hosseinzadeh and Sara Basiri Abstract The objectives of this study were to evaluate the efficacy of near-neutral electrolyzed water (NEW) (100 and 200 mg/ml), peroxyacetic acid (PAA) (200 and 400 mg/ml), and their combination (NEW 100 mg/ml þ PAA 200 mg/ml) on microbial quality, pH, TBARS value, and sensory quality of fresh chicken breast meat dipped into the solutions for 10 min at room temperature. Meat samples were tested immediately after treatments and on days 2, 4, and 6 of storage at 4  C. All treatments were effective in reducing microbial populations through- out the storage (P < 0.05), with combined treatment showing the strongest antimicrobial activity. On the sixth day of storage, the aerobic plate counts, psychrophilic plate count, Enterobacteriaceae, lactic acid bacteria, and Pseudomonas counts in the NEW 100 mg/ml þ PAA 200 mg/ml group were 1.33, 1.40, 1.45, 1.01, and 1.45 log CFU/g, respectively, which was lower than the control group (P < 0.05). In all treatments, the pH value of meat samples increased with storage time. During 6 days of storage, PAA400 group had the lowest increase in pH value (P < 0.05). On day 6, the combined treatment and PAA 400 mg/ml had the lowest lipid oxidation (P < 0.05). On day 6, the NEW100 þ PAA200 group obtained the highest score in sensory attributes com- pared to other treatment groups (P < 0.05). According to the microbial and chemical analysis, the combined treatment of NEW and PAA can be a promising method to extend the shelf life of chicken by about 2 days at 4  C. Also, these compounds do not contain any harmful residues in chicken breast meat and their use is recommended in decontamination of poultry meat. Keywords Near-neutral electrolyzed water, peroxyacetic acid, decontamination, chicken breast meat, shelf life Date received: 6 January 2020; accepted: 28 September 2020 INTRODUCTION Poultry meat is a nutritious food that is considered healthy and one of the cheapest sources of protein, vitamins, minerals, and essential polyunsaturated fatty acids; accordingly, its consumption has been steadily increasing over the last decades (Alonso-Hernando et al., 2013; OECD-FAO, 2016). Poultry meat is considered a highly perishable food (Petrou et al., 2012); it can be contaminated with pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms that is undesirable regarding the health and safety of consumers. The shelf life of poultry meat depends on the initial number of spoilage microorganisms and the temperature during the process of production and storage (Yashoda et al., 2001). Department of Food Hygiene and Public Health, School of Veterinary Medicine, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran Corresponding author: Seyed Shahram Shekarforoush, School of Veterinary Medicine, Shiraz University, Shiraz 71345-1731, Islamic Republic of Iran. Email: shekar@shirazu.ac.ir Food Science and Technology International 0(0) 1–9 ! The Author(s) 2020 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/1082013220968713 journals.sagepub.com/home/fst