Influence of Different Packages on the Shelf Life of Vacuum Packed Paneer Tikka

Abstract

Paneer tikka, an exotic kebab of Indian cottage cheese is highly rich in proteins, vitamins, minerals, fibre content, sulphur compounds, and laxative in nature. The shelf life or paneer tikka is hardly one day at room temperature and it requires five hours for its preparation. In order to enhance shelf life, the product was vacuum packed in two high barrier packages, viz., LLD/BA*/Nylon-6/BA/LDPE (110 , *binding agent) and metallized polyester/LDPE (20/75 ) along with LDPE (100 ) as control, and stored at 3 ± 1°C. The effect of different packages was observed for changes in chemical, microbial and sensory quality of vacuum packed paneer tikka samples at 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 day(s). Results indicated that both the high barrier packages significantly inhibited the lipid oxidation, proteolysis and acidity development of vacuum packed paneer tikka. Among the different packages studied samples packed in nylon based high barrier package had minimum microbial count during storage. Sensory analysis showed that control samples had a limited shelf life of 20 days, while a significant increase of 20 days (200%) was obtained for the samples packed in high barrier packages.