Performance of mechanically deboned chicken meat protein coatings containing thyme or clove essential oil for storage quality improvement of beef sucuks.

The performance of mechanically deboned chicken meat protein (MDCM-P) coatings containing thyme (TEO) or clove essential oils (CEO) was investigated to improve the storage quality of heat treated sucuks during 45 days of storage at 4 °C. The sucuk slices were divided to 4 groups as uncoated, coated with MDCM-P solution, coated with MDCM-P solution containing 1.5% TEO and MDCM-P solution containing 1.5% CEO. Physical, chemical and microbial properties of sucuk samples were analyzed on 0, 15, 30 and 45 days of storage. Results indicated that the weight loss, pH, thiobarbituric acid reactive subtances, total viable and psychrotrophic bacteria counts increased, while a* and b* values and water activity decreased with storage time (p < .05). In all analysis periods, these changes were slowed down with coating applications containing essential oils, but the slowest changes were observed in coated sucuks with MDCM-P solution containing 1.5% CEO. Therefore, MDCM-P coatings containing CEO could improve the storage quality of heat treated sucuks at refrigerator.