Efeito de absorvedores de umidade com poliacrilato de sódio na qualidade da carne de frango durante armazenamento sob refrigeração

Abstract

Many products release water while stored, and due to a number of factors, they end up deteriorating very easily, as is the case with chicken fillet. Chicken meat has a high nutritional value, but it is very perishable and subject to the rapid multiplication of microorganisms. For these products, conservation methods are needed that aim at stability and, consequently, increase the useful life for commercialization. In this scenario, we have moisture absorbers as an effective control measure for excess water. In this work, we sought to evaluate the effect of moisture absorbers with the addition of sodium polyacrylate on the quality of chicken meat, during storage at refrigerated temperature (± 5 ºC). Expanded polystyrene trays were reserved for the experiments at 0, 3, 6 and 10 days, for each packaging condition. The conditions were: control, without adding absorbers; addition of absorber containing only cotton and addition of absorber containing cotton and sodium polyacrylate. After placing the chicken cuts in the trays, they were wrapped in PVC films and stored under refrigeration. Analyzes of pH, color, humidity and texture were performed on the meat and it was observed that the moisture absorber containing the polyacrylate was very efficient. The cuts stored on the absorbers showed greater weight loss, lower darkening index and lower moisture content over the analyzed time.