Irradiation effect on bulgogi sauce for making commercial Korean traditional meat product, bulgogi

Abstract

Gamma-irradiated sauce of bulogogi, Korean traditional meat products, was compared with heat-pasteurized one to enhance its safety, quality, and commercial availability. The sauce is usually sold in refrigerated state with 2-7 days of self-life or heat-sterilized and sold in room temperature for a year. Raw vegetables, fruits and soy sauce for sauce making were highly contaminated by thermophillic microorganisms (totally 2.13 x 10(6) CFU/g) and coliform bacteria (totally 5.90 x 10(4) CFU/g) at the initial stage. Heat treatment (100degreesC for 30 min) was effective to control coliform and microbes counted from Salmonella-Shigella selective agar in the sauce but not on thermophillic microorganisms, resulting in a rapid spoilage after 2 weeks at 20degreesC. Gamma irradiation reduced the level of thermophillic microorganisms and the spoilage was prevented during storage for 4 weeks at 20degreesC. Protease activity of the sauce was significantly reduced by heat treatment while was not changed by irradiation at 2.5, 5.0, and 10 kGy. Sensory evaluation showed that the irradiation was better in color than nonirradiated control or heat-treated sample. Results indicate that low dose irradiation (2.5-5.0 kGy) is effective to ensure safety of bulgogi sauce with acceptable sensory quality. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.