Assessment of Different Packaging Structures in the Stability of Frozen Fresh Brazilian Toscana Sausage

The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of different package conditions on the characteristics of Toscana fresh sausage stored for 150 days under freezing. The analyses of lipid oxidation, moisture, pH, acidity, water activity, and counting of psychotrophic microorganisms were carried out along with the storage time for each package (low-density polyethylene with and without vacuum and oxygen permeability of 500 cm 3 O 2 /m 2 day atm at 23 °C; nylon polyester with and without vacuum and permeability of 100 cm 3 O 2 /m 2 day atm at 23 °C; and formal copolymer of ethylene and vinyl alcohol with and without vacuum and oxygen permeability of 5 cm 3 O 2 /m 2 day atm at 23 °C). Results showed that from 60 days of storage, the samples stored using polyethylene without vacuum and nylon 100 cm 3 O 2 /m 2 day atm, without vacuum, presented a slight rancidity flavor, statistically different ( p < 0.05) from the other tested ones. After 151 days of storage, a relationship between 2-thiobarbituric acid reactive substances analysis and sensory characteristics could be observed. In this case, the packages without application of vacuum presented higher values in the sensory and oxidative rancidity analyses, configuring flavor of slight to moderate rancidity.