Unravelling the Influence of Perforation Sizes on Physicochemical, Sensory and Microbial Attributes of Modified Atmosphere Packaged Refrigerated Chicken Patties

The changes in lifestyle patterns and the adoption of a busy life have led to the widespread acceptance of ready‐to‐cook (RTC) products, particularly meat products. Chicken patties, being a preprocessed RTC product, are consumed worldwide. This study investigates the impact of perforated modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) on the physicochemical, sensory and microbial attributes of chicken patties stored at 4 °C for 14 days. The focus is on assessing the consequences of package damage occurring at any stage of the supply chain. Perforations measuring 0.2 mm and 0.4 mm were introduced into polypropylene packaging boxes, wherein chicken patties were subsequently packaged under five distinct gas concentrations of CO2 (ranging from 0% to 50%) and O2 (ranging from 0% to 50%), alongside a constant level of 50% N2. A control group containing normal air along with perforations was included for comparison with other groups containing modified atmospheres. The results indicated that the package (PPCON9) with the highest concentration of CO2 (50%) and the lowest O2 (0%) with 0.2 mm perforations was the most effective in preserving the quality attributes of chicken patties during storage by reducing moisture loss (3%), protein denaturation (0.38%), lipid oxidation (0.54%), cooking loss (0.72%), shrinkage (0.18%), water holding capacity (5.67%), sensory losses and microbial spoilage. The highest losses occurred in the package with 0.4 mm perforations containing normal air (PPA2). The study highlights that even if a package containing a modified atmosphere is damaged, it still efficiently preserves the chicken patties compared to a damaged package containing normal air. However, leakage significantly impacts the efficiency of MAP, necessitating effective solutions to prevent losses that occur from this issue.