A natural blend of cultured sugar and vinegar can be used as antimicrobial and texture-modifying agents for poultry meat and poultry products, concluded Na Yoon Park and colleagues at Kyung Hee University from the results of an experiment published in Poultry Science.

They explain in their paper that marination using various ingredients has been widely used to improve microbial safety and quality of chicken products at retail markets.

The objective of their study was to investigate the effects of commercial marinade seasoning and cultured sugar/vinegar blend on Campylobacter jejuni and Salmonella Typhimurium populations during refrigerated storage. In addition, their effects on the texture of pre-cooked chicken breasts during frozen and refrigerated storage was investigated.

Chicken breasts inoculated with 4.5 to 5.0 log colony-forming units per gramme (cfu/g) of C. jejuni and Salmonella Typhimurium were treated with 3.0 per cent cultured sugar/vinegar blend, with and without 0.6 per cent polish rub seasoning containing 32 per cent herb content.

Breasts were then vacuum-packaged and stored at 4 and 10°C.

Survival and growth curves were fitted to the Baranyi equation to determine survival and growth kinetics of C. jejuni and Salmonella Typhimurium.

In addition, the vacuum-packaged precooked chicken breasts with different marination treatments were subjected to three freeze-thaw cycles and shear force was measured.

At 4°C, the populations of C. jejuni and Salmonella Typhimurium decreased, regardless of treatment group during storage.

The greatest survival for C. jejuni was observed in untreated chicken breasts.

At 10°C, the growth of Salmonella Typhimurium was completely prevented in pre-cooked chicken breasts treated with the sugar/vinegar blend, regardless of the presence of 0.6 per cent seasoning.

The sugar/vinegar blend also improved the tenderness of frozen chicken breasts and refrigerated, ready-to-eat chicken breast, Park and co-authors observed.

Reference

Park N.Y., S.H. Hong and K.S. Yoon. 2014. Effects of commercial marinade seasoning and a natural blend of cultured sugar and vinegar on Campylobacter jejuni and Salmonella Typhimurium and the texture of chicken breasts. Poultry Science. 93:719-727. doi: 10.3382/ps.2013-03595