Abstract: The effects of addition of different amounts (0.2%, 0.3%, 0.4% and 0.5%) of a mixture of organic acids produced by Propionibacterium acidipropionici with glycerin as substrate on the quality of prepared pork patties during refrigerated (4 ℃) storage were studied using samples with no added antioxidant as the control. For this study, we measured the pH, color (L*, a* and b* values), mass loss rate, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) value, total bacterial count and textural characteristics of pork patties on days 1, 4, 7 and 10. The results indicated that adding the organic acid mixture significantly increased the a* value during chilled storage (P < 0.05), being beneficial to improve the color of pork patties, reduced the chewiness, mass loss rate and total colony number (P < 0.05), and inhibited lipid and protein oxidation (P < 0.05). The addition of the organic acids at 0.5% could significantly reduce the hardness of pork patties (P < 0.05), and exerted the strongest inhibitory effect on lipid and protein oxidation as well as microbial growth, thereby greatly improving the quality of prepared pork patties.

Key words: prepared pork patties; Propionibaeterium acidipropionici; fermented broth extract; lipid oxidation; quality