The quality and shelf-life of ostrich meat packaged by various gas compositions of modified atmosphere were somewhat improved; microbial growth in the meats was delayed due to high CO2 usage and shelf-life was increased by 5–7 days. The longer the exposure to high CO2 concentration, the more effective the inhibition of microbial growth.
Additionally, high O2 concentrations promote the formation of oxymyoglobin (OxyMb), but this may impact negatively on the oxidative stability of muscle lipids and lead to the development of undesirable flavours. The high CO2 contents prevented increased lipid oxidation and increased acceptable shelf-life by more than 5 days. Furthermore, the increase in O2 inside the package causes rapid loss of redness of ostrich meat and thus the desired red-colour is not obtained. The consumer may be adversely affected by this