Response of microbial time temperature indicator to quality indices of chicken breast meat during storage

A prototype of lactic acid bacteria-based time temperature indicator (TTI) was applied to vacuum packed chicken breast meat. Responses of the microbial TTI produced in our laboratory were measured in titratable acidity (TA) during storage. The TTI responses were correlated with the meat qualities over the storage periods at different temperatures. The relationships between the coliform bacteria (CB) counts of meat and the TA of TTI were almost the same for all storage temperatures, because CB counts and TTI had the most similar Arrhenius temperature dependence. The other meat quality indices also showed the similar tendency in the relationships but disagreement between the temperatures increased in the order of lactic acid bacteria counts, volatile basic nitrogen, aerobic mesophilic bacteria counts, and thiobarbituric acid reactive substance. In conclusion, the microbial TTI prototype was found to be a beneficial tool in predicting the quality changes of chicken breast meat during storage.