author(s)
J Jeeva, M Anna Anandh, V Jayalalitha and K Kannan

abstract
This study was conducted to investigate the quality of marinated chicken under chilling (4±1°C) and super-chilling (-2±1°C) temperatures. The physico-chemical, microbiological and sensory attributes of marinated chicken meat were evaluated at regular intervals of 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 days of storage. The physico-chemical characteristics of marinated chicken were significantly influenced by both storage temperature and storage period. Compared to chilling, marinated super chilled samples consistently retained superior physico-chemical quality, as evidenced by lower pH shifts, drip loss, TBA, FFA and tyrosine values. Microbial counts (TPC, psychrophilic bacteria and yeast and mold) increased significantly (P< 0.01) with storage duration across all treatments, but the rate of increase was slower under super chilled marinated samples. Coliform counts remained undetected throughout storage period. Throughout the storage period, all microbial counts were within the acceptable limits of meat products. The sensory attributes of marinated chicken were also significantly affected by both storage temperature and duration, with super chilling constantly yielding superior sensory attributes as compared to conventional chilling. Further, marinated samples generally received higher sensory scores than unmarinated samples. Therefore, from these results, it can be concluded that, the combined application of super chilling and marination significantly extended the shelf life of chicken meat up to 30 days while maintaining superior physico-chemical, microbial and sensory quality without affecting overall quality and acceptability of marinated chicken.