Effects of packaging atmospheres on shelf-life quality of ground ostrich meat A.C. Seydim a, * , J.C. Acton b , M.A. Hall c , P.L. Dawson b a Department of Food Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Su ¨ leyman Demirel University, 32260 Isparta, Turkey b Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, USA c Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, USA Abstract Fresh ground ostrich meat was packaged under high oxygen (O2), high nitrogen (N2), vacuum (VAC) and ambient air (AIR) atmo- spheres, stored at 4 ± 1 °C and displayed under 1700 ± 100 lux of fluorescent lighting for 9 days. The meat was evaluated for changes in typical shelf-life characteristics consisting of pH, color properties (CIE L * , a * , b * , and total color difference, DE), oxidative changes (thio- barbituric acid value and hexanal content) and bacterial counts (total viable cell, coliform, lactic acid bacteria, Enterobacteriaceae, Pseu- domonas spp.) Initial meat pH was 6.16 and declined slightly during storage. TBA values and hexanal content were highest in O2 and lowest (P 6 0.05) in VAC and N2 atmospheres. Surface lightness (L * ) and redness (a * ) were highest in O2 packaging initially, decreasing (P 6 0.05) by day 9. DE of the ground ostrich increased during storage in only O 2 and AIR packaging. All packaging methods had gen- erally similar effects on microbial outgrowth. Total aerobic bacteria attained >10 6 CFU/g meat between day 3 and day 6. Ground ostrich meat was below saleable quality in less than 6 days based on all of the meat attributes. For O2 packaging however, quality based on lipid oxidation and color properties indicated a shelf-life of less than 3 days. Oxidation is likely the limiting factor for shelf-life of ground ostrich meat. Keywords: Quality; Ostrich; Meat; Shelf-life; Modified atmosphere packaging 1. Introduction Meat from the ostrich (Struthio camelus) is presented and marketed as a ‘‘new’’ red meat alternative due to its low intramuscular fat content and high content of polyun- saturated fatty acids (Sales, 1998). Ostrich carcasses are typically chilled for 24–48 h postmortem, fabricated, and immediately vacuum and/or chub packaged before market- ing (Sales & Horbanczuk, 1998). Ostrich meat processors sell fresh and frozen meat (cuts and ground) as well as pro- cessed meat products to a variety of markets generally uti- lizing recent retail packaging practices (Alonso-Calleja, Martı ´nez-Ferna ´ndez, Prieto, & Capita, 2004). Modern meat packaging techniques are intended to maintain microbial and sensory quality of the product. Product shelf-life can be extended by inhibiting or retard- ing the growth of undesirable microflora. This can be achieved by manipulation of the meat microenvironment (Hotchkiss, 1988). Vacuum and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) techniques are used in the food industry to extend the product shelf-life. MAP can be classified into two main categories, namely, low oxygen modified atmo- sphere (including vacuum packaging, CO 2 gas flushing, N 2 gas flushing) and high oxygen modified atmosphere (Robertson, 1993). The relatively high pH of ostrich meat creates an ideal environment for rapid microbial spoilage in some packag- ing conditions (Alonso-Calleja et al., 2004; Doherty, Sher- idan, Allen, McDowell, & Balir, 1996; Sales & Mellet,