Combination of aerobic and vacuum packaging to control lipid oxidation and off-odor volatiles of irradiated raw turkey breast

Effects of the combination of aerobic and anaerobic packaging on color, lipid oxidation, and volatile production were determined to establish a modified packaging method to control quality changes in irradiated raw turkey meat. Lipid oxidation was the major problem with aerobically packaged irradiated turkey breast, while retaining characteristic irradiation off-odor volatiles such as dimethyl sulfide, dimethyl disulfide, and dimethyl trisulfide was the concern for vacuum-packaged breast during the 10-day refrigerated storage. Vacuum packaging of aerobically packaged irradiated turkey breast meat at 1 or 3 days of storage lowered the amounts of S-volatiles and lipid oxidation products compared with vacuum- and aerobically packaged meats, respectively. Irradiation increased the a-value of raw turkey breast, but exposing the irradiated meat to aerobic conditions alleviated the intensity of redness.