Abstract:This study was aimed to investigate the effect of vacuum cooling on the shelf life of chicken, and to predict the growth of microbialin chicken breast. The chicken breast was cooled by cold air and vacuum cooling, respectively. The total number of colonies during storage was measured. Vacuum cooling was beneficial for extending the shelf life of chicken. The method of Polymerase Chain Reaction-Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis(PCR-DGGE) was used to measure the bacterial floras' changes on the surface of vacuum-cooled chicken stored at 5 ℃, ensuring Pseudomonas was the predominant bacteria. The maximum of dominant spoilage bacteria was 5.373 （lg(CFU/g)） during cold storage with the total number of colony and predominant spoilage bacteria as the microbial index and TVB-N and pH as the physical and chemical index. A primary model and a secondary model of microbial growth were established by placing chilled chicken breast at different temperatures from 0 ℃ to 25 ℃, and the model was validated and evaluated. The results showed that the established mathematical model could better predict the growth trend of predominant spoilage bacteria.
