Abstract: In order to study the effects of different packaging methods on the microbial community and quality properties of starch-meat sausages with high moisture content,?the quality change of tray-packaged (TP) and vacuum-packaged (VP) sausages was measured during storage at (20 ± 1) ℃ and 60% relative humidity. The results revealed that moisture content and moisture activity were determined to be 70.30 g/100 g and 0.984 before storage (day 0), respectively, and somewhat decreased during storage. The microbial growth rate in VP samples was significantly slower than that in TP samples during storage. Total bacterial counts were 4.55 and 4.67 (lg (CFU/g)) in TP and VP samples after 4 and 6 days of storage, respectively, which were close to the maximum limit of the national standard, 5.00 (lg(CFU/g)), and the samples became seriously spoiled after 8 and 12 days, respectively. The 16S rDNA sequencing results showed that the main spoilage bacteria in TP samples were Bacillus velezensis, while those in VP samples were Weissella viridescens and Lactobacillus sakei. The pH of TP samples significantly decreased first and then increased significantly (P < 0.05), while the pH of VP samples continuously decreased significantly (P < 0.05) with the extension of storage time. The results of electronic nose analysis showed that spoiled TP samples had obvious odors like nitrogen oxides and sulfides whereas spoiled VP samples had obvious sour odor. In sensory evaluation, VP samples scored significantly higher than did TP samples at the same storage period. In conclusion, compared with tray packaging, vacuum packaging is more conducive to the quality maintenance of starch-meat sausages during storage and consequently shelf life extension.

Key words: tray packaging; vacuum packaging; starch-meat sausages; microbial community; quality