Testing of polybutylene succinate based films for poultry meat packaging

Overall evaluation of the newly developed materials based on polybutylene succinate (PBS) and polybutylene succinate-co-adipate (PBSA) derived from renewable resources was carried out. This study was focused on the practical examination of two selected double layer materials - i) PBSA/(90% PBS + 10% PBSA) and ii) PBSA/(80% PBS + 10% PBSA + 10% talc), which were applied for vacuum packaging of raw chicken and turkey meat and smoked turkey meat. Physical, chemical and mechanical properties of these materials were compared with commonly used packaging material based on polyamide/polyethylene (PA/PE). Functional parameters of packaging materials such as the film thickness, water vapour transmission rate, oxygen permeability, tensile strength, transmittance and overall migration were tested. Various values of water vapour transmission rate for PA/PE, i) PBSA and ii) PBSA 2.1, 20.9 and 21.0 g·m^-2·d^-1; oxygen permeability 74.7, 115.4 and 85.1 ml (STP)·m^-2·d^-1·0.1 MPa^-1 (all at 23 °C, 75% relative humidity) and transmittance 82.6, 15.7 and 6.9% were found, respectively. For the packaged meats only minor changes of pH, water activity, microbiological quality, colour and profiles of volatile compounds during the storage throughout their shelf life were found. Results of all experiments confirm that even if the physical, chemical and mechanical properties of commonly used PA/PE and new PBS packaging materials are not the same, there is no significant limitation in the practical application of PBS based films for raw and smoked poultry meats.