Vol. 11, Issue 12 (2022)

Author(s):
Sivaranjani M, Renuka Nayar, Kavitha Rajagopal, Vasudevan VN and Bimal P Bashir

Abstract:
India has a huge buffalo population and buffalo meat is a nutrient rich food. The perishable commodity of meat can be converted to shelf stable products by different techniques, of which the simplest method is drying. The present study was aimed to develop dried buffalo meat by hot air and to study its physico- chemical and microbiological characteristics at ambient temperature (25-30 ^oC) for a storage period of 90 days. Round portion of buffalo carcass was cut into strips and dried in hot air drier at 60 ^oC for 14 hours and then packed in aerobic (T₁) and vacuum (T₂) conditions. Both T₁ and T₂ showed a significant increase in pH during storage period. Water activity of both T₁ and T₂ decreased whereas thiobarbituric acid reacting substances and tyrosine values increased significantly during storage period. Significant decrease in hardness value was observed. L* values showed no significant difference whereas T₂ showed a significant difference in a * value across storage period. B*, C* and hue values increased significantly during storage period. T₂ showed a lower aerobic plate count than T1. Significant increase in yeast and mould count was observed on day 30 in both treatments. Hot air drying significantly increased the shelf life of buffalo meat and vacuum packaging significantly enhanced the microbial quality of dried meat.