Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the administration of Pentacoelho SA for
providing rabbit carcasses. The research was supported by funds
from the National Research Foundation (Fundação para a Ciência e
Tecnologia, FCT).
Table 4
Shelf life determination of packaged under air (PUA) refrigerated rabbit carcasses, as function of initial contamination loads for aerobic mesophilic, aerobic psychrotrophic
bacteria, Pseudomonas and lactic acid bacteria.
Initial count
(log CFU g1)
Aerobic mesophilic Aerobic psychrotrophic Pseudomonas Lactic acid bacteria
Lag phase
(days)
Shelf life
(days)a
Lag phase
(days)
Shelf life
(days)a
Lag phase
(days)
Shelf life
(days)a
Lag phase
(days)
Shelf life
(days)a
3 4 19 4 18 4 15 4 16
4 4 14 4 13 4 11 4 12
5 4 9 4 8 4 8 4 8
6 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
4.87/5.25/3.99/3.71b 4 9 4 7 4 11 4 13
a Values rounded by excess.
b Highest initial count for each indicator (see Table 1).
Table 5
Shelf life determination of modified atmosphere packaged (MAP) refrigerated rabbit carcasses, as function of initial contamination loads for aerobic mesophilic, aerobic
psychrotrophic bacteria and lactic acid bacteria.
Initial count (log CFU g1) Aerobic mesophilic Aerobic psychrotrophic Lactic acid bacteria
Lag phase (days) Shelf life (days)a Lag phase (days) Shelf life (days)a Lag phase (days) Shelf life (days)a
3 8 23 8 26 8 21
4 8 18 8 20 8 17
5 8 13 8 14 8 12
6 8 8 8 8 8 8
4.87/5.25/3.71b 8 14 8 12 8 18
a Values rounded by excess.
b Highest initial count for each indicator (see Table 1).