4. Conclusion
The results show that as the LAB concentrations increase, so do the
concentrations of dissolved CO2, so dissolved CO2 concentrations could
be used to predict the concentration of LAB present. This data was
used to develop models which estimated microbial populations based
on dissolved CO2 concentrations for the core and purge samples,
which could be used to estimate shelf life. The models could also have
a practical application by being able to compensate for variation in
initial microbial populations, since the post-mortem age and transportation
conditions of fresh meat products will vary. However, these
models are limited to vacuum-packaged pork chops that predict microbial
shelf life and not sensory shelf life, which can be different from microbial shelf life. Despite these limitations, our results demonstrate
proof of concept that it is possible to develop a shelf life model from an
instrument measurement, such as dissolved CO2 concentrations. It also
shows that a “real-time” measurement of shelf life is possible, which is
favored over the “historical” data delivered by microbiological methods
(Bruckner et al., 2013; McDonald & Sun, 1999; McMeekin & Ross,
1996). The models we developed could direct more development into
using instrument measurements to base more shelf life models for
other food products and different temperature conditions.