Chitosan coatings, with and without clove oil, were investigated for effects on quality and shelf life of cooked pork sausages stored at a refrigerated temperature (4 ± 2 °C).
The various treatments of cooked pork sausages were:
untreated (control), coating with 2% chitosan (CS), and coating with a mixture having 2% chitosan and 1.5% clove oil (CS + CO). Various microbiological, physical, chemical and sensory properties were monitored over 25 days of storage. The total viable count, the psychrotrophic bacteria count, the L* value, peroxide value and the thiobarbituric acid reactive substances increased, while the a* value, the b* value, the pH and the sensory scores decreased
with storage time, across all treatments. However, these changes were slowest with the CS + CO treatment.
Based on sensory evaluation and microbiological quality, the shelf lives were 14 days for control, 20 days for CS, and 20 days for CS + CO treated samples, under refrigerated storage.