Abstract: Rabbit skin gelatin films incorporated with different concentrations (0, 0.3, 0.5 and 0.8 g/L) of rosmarinic acid (RosA) were prepared and fresh pork was packaged using gelatin film alone, or gelatin film as an inner package coupled with polyethylene (PE) film as an outer package. This study showed that the composite films effectively inhibited the increase of total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) content, total colony number and pH during refrigeration and also inhibited lipid oxidation. This effect was positively correlated with RosA concentration within the range used in this study. Compared with the control group, 0.8 g/L RosA-gelatin film packaging and PE packaging extended the shelf life of pork from 4 to 8 and 6 days, respectively, and PE/0.8 g/L RosA-gelatin film extended the shelf life to 10 days. In addition, by measuring the color, hardness and other indicators as well as visual observation of pork, it was found that PE/RosA-gelatin film better maintained the texture quality and color of pork compared with RosA-gelatin film. Therefore, PE/RosA-gelatin film can be used as an effective packaging for the preservation of meat quality during cold storage.

Key words: rabbit skin gelatin, rosmarinic acid, pork, preservation