Studies on the bacterial flora of vacuum-packaged fresh beef

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Abstract
Vacuum-packaging of fresh beef in a gas-impermeable film (vinyldene chloride – vinyl chloride copolymer), as compared to packaging in a gas-permeable film (polyvinyl chloride), reduced the growth rates of most incident bacteria (lower total aerobic and anaerobic counts), favored the development of lactobacilli, and markedly increased the odor and color shelf life during storage at 5 °C. The growth rate of both aerobes and anaerobes on meat packaged in vinyldene chloride (VC) film was about 1/8 of that of meat packaged in the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) film. The flora of VC-packaged samples consisted largely of lactobacilli (50–70%) while that of PVC-packaged samples consisted mostly of pigmented pseudomonads and M. thermosphactum (collectively 60%). Exposure of VC-packaged samples to air changed the microflora to one resembling that of samples initially packaged in PVC film. VC-packaged meat did not undergo noticeable changes in odor or color even after 32 days of storage while meat stored in PVC developed off-color (brown) and off-odor (putrid) in 5 days. The color shelf life in PVC film of beef previously stored in VC film was 3 days regardless of how long the meat was stored in the latter film before repackaging.

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