Effect of Dielectric Barrier Discharge Low Temperature Plasma Treatment on Lamb Meat Quality

Postmortem ovine Longissimus dorsi muscle was treated by dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) low-temperature plasma with different intensities (0, 30, 60, 90 and 120 s) and then stored 4 ℃. The changes in the pH, color, juice loss, shear force, total bacterial count and protein oxidation indicators of the samples during storage were analyzed to explore the effect of DBD low-temperature plasma treatment on the quality of lamb meat. The results showed that during storage, the pH of the treated samples was lower than that of the untreated ones. The L^* and b^* values of the samples increased firstly and then decreased with treatment time. DBD low-temperature plasma treatment had no significant influence on the color or shear force, but could accelerate protein oxidation in lamb meat. Furthermore, this treatment significantly (P < 0.05) reduced the total count of bacteria during storage. After five days of storage, the total count of bacteria in the control group was 6.10 (lg (CFU/g)), which was far beyond the limit. However, the total count of bacteria the treatment group exceeded the limit value after seven days, indicating that DBD low-temperature plasma treatment can extend the shelf life of lamb meat. DBD low-temperature plasma treatment for 60 s had the least negative impact on lamb meat quality during storage.