Background

Cooked ready-to-eat (RTE) meat products are subjected to contamination of spoilage microorganisms such as lactic acid bacteria and pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes. These microorganisms contaminate cooked RTE meat products after the cooking step and may further grow during shelf-life potentially leading to spoilage or foodborne diseases, respectively. In the current context of salt, fat and chemical preservatives reduction in meat products formulations, a combined strategy that considers the development of more robust formulations, active packaging and the use of non-thermal post-packaging decontamination strategies seems required to ensure shelf-stable and safe RTE cooked food products.

Scope and approach

The main objective of this review was to discuss the aspects related to reformulation, active packaging and the application of non-thermal decontamination technologies at the post-packaging step of cooked RTE meat products, their advantages, limitations and main challenges for their implementation.

Key findings and conclusions

In general, post-packaging decontamination technologies aim to reduce or inactivate pathogens and spoilage microorganisms present on the surface of ready-to-eat meat products. Low-temperature plasma, high-pressure processing (HPP), pulsed electric fields, pulsed ultraviolet light and ultrasound are promising alternatives in this segment. However, the choice of the most appropriate approach for post-packaging decontamination of cooked ready-to-eat meat products depends on the type of product and the technological objectives. Meat products formulation and packaging material properties should be considered while defining a post-packaging decontamination approach. Although they are advantageous, non-thermal technologies may present certain limitations such as the increase of oxidative reactions over the shelf-life.

中文翻译：

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结合配方，主动包装和非热包装后净化技术，提高了即食肉制品的微生物质量和安全性

背景

煮熟的即食（RTE）肉类产品会受到腐败微生物（如乳酸菌）和病原体（如单核细胞增生李斯特菌）的污染。这些微生物在蒸煮步骤后污染了蒸煮过的RTE肉制品，并且在保质期内可能会进一步生长，分别导致腐败或食源性疾病。在当前减少肉制品配方中的盐，脂肪和化学防腐剂的背景下，为确保货架稳定，似乎需要一种综合策略，考虑开发更健壮的配方，主动包装以及使用非热包装后去污策略和安全的RTE熟食产品。

范围和方法

这篇综述的主要目的是讨论与熟制RTE肉类产品的后包装步骤中的重新配方，有效包装和非热净化技术的应用有关的方面，它们的优点，局限性和实施方面的主要挑战。

主要发现和结论

通常，包装后的去污技术旨在减少或灭活即食肉类产品表面上存在的病原体和腐败微生物。低温等离子体，高压处理（HPP），脉冲电场，脉冲紫外线和超声是该领域的有希望的替代方法。但是，对包装后的即食肉类产品进行消毒的最合适方法的选择取决于产品的类型和技术目标。在定义包装后的去污方法时，应考虑肉制品的配方和包装材料的特性。尽管它们是有利的，但非热技术可能会出现某些局限性，例如在整个保质期内增加氧化反应。