Ready-to-eat (RTE) chicken porridge was prepared with chicken breast, chicken broth, and other ingredients (ginseng, glutinous rice, chestnut, and jujube) together with various spices and seasonings. The product was heated in a retort at 121°C with an F-value of approximately 4.0 after being packaged in a multilayer, gas-tight plastic tray (PP/EVOH/PP) with top film (PET/PA/EPL). The changes in various quality characteristics were investigated at four week intervals during 28 weeks' storage at 25°C. Over the storage period, counts of total aerobes, total aerobic thermophiles, Clostridium spp., and anaerobic spore former were not detected above 101/g (detection limit). The viscosity increased sharply from 775 cp at day 0 to 2,205 cp after four weeks and steadily increased to 3,033 cp until 16 weeks, and thereafter decreased slightly. The values for residual oxygen concentration in the tray, pH, and gelatinization degree tended to decrease with storage time, namely from 9.9%, 6.49, and 100% initially to 5.7%, 6.05, and 44.1% at week 28, respectively. TBARS values increased from 0.46 initially to 0.95 mg MA/kg after 28 weeks. In terms of color changes during storage, the samples showed slightly increased Hunter L, b, chroma, and ⊿E values until week 20, but thereafter did not increase significantly. The sensory scores for odour, texture, and flavour were evaluated below 5.0 (marketability level) after 28 weeks of storage. Based on sensory evaluation, it could be concluded that retorted RTE ginseng chicken porridge could remain marketable for at least 24 weeks at 25 °C.
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