Effect of chitosan and clove essential oil composite coating on the quality of ready-to-cook pork chops during refrigerated storage

In order to find a way to prolong the shelf life of read-to-cook( RTC) pork chops during refrigerated storage,the fresh-keeping effect of chitosan( Ch) and clove essential oil( Clo) coating was studied. Microbiological parameters,lipid oxidation,and the change of color value were measured on all samples to evaluate the quality of RTC pork chops during the storage period. Meanwhile,the changes of protein structure in RTC pork chop were measured by Raman spectroscopy. The results showed that the composite coating of ch-clo significantly improved the antibacterial and antioxidative effect of Ch-coating,and could prolong the storage period of more than 6 days. The quality and shelf life of pork chops was obviously improved. In addition,protein structure by Raman spectroscopy showed that,along with protein oxidation process,the pork protein of α-helix changed to β-sheet,causing its structural and biochemical changes. The composite coating of chitosan and clove oil has the potential as an edible coating preservative to prolong the shelf life during refrigerated period and inhibit the lipid and protein oxidation.