• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.80-86
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• 2007

This experiment was conducted to investigate the changes of pork meat quality characteristics exposed to ozone gas for 5, 10, and 15 min and then vacuum packaged during storage for 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 day at $4^{\circ}C$. The ozone gas exposed groups of pork loin cuts (OZM) had slightly higher pH value compared to the control at day 0 and 5 (p<0.01). The 15 min exposure of ozone gas groups showed significantly (p<0.01) higher TBARS value than that of control at the day 15 and 20. However, there was no significant difference in all groups at day 0,5, and 10. The CIE $L^*$ and $b^*$ values of OZM showed no significant difference between control and ozone gas treated groups during storage. The loin cut color of ozone gas exposure for 15 min had significantly lower CIE $a^*$ values than the other groups at day 0,5, and 15 (p<0.01). The aerobic plate count and coliform bacteria count of pork loin cuts exposed ozone gas significantly (p<0.01) was reduced at day 0 by about $0.45-1.04\;log_{10}CFU/g$ and $0.26-0.30\;log_{10}CFU/g$, respectively. As ozone gas exposure time extended, the aerobic plate count and coliform bacteria count of OZM were increased at day 0, 5, and 10 (p<0.01). However, there were no significant differences observed among groups at day 20 in the counts of aerobic and coliform bacteria. In conclusion, the meat cuts exposed to ozone gas for 5 and 10 min before packing may be a reasonable packing method regarding the effects of ozone level on meat oxidation, color change and microbial reduction.