Shelf Life Increase by MAP

Another scientific work on poultry (chicken meat) around 40 years ago lead to a result that 20% CO2 (balance air) in continuously flushed systems resulted in an increased shelf life of whole chicken carcasses while 10% was less effective. Some other studies showed that ice packed chicken had a shelf life of 14 days compared to 23 days for carcasses packed in MAP (modified atmosphere packaging) containing 50 – 80 % CO2. Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) for poultry (chicken meat) increase the shelf life not only against ice packing but also against to vacuum packaging as well. Sensory studies for raw and cooked chicken indicated not only an improvement in microbial condition but also of organoleptic attributes.

These series of scientific Works proved that using CO2 in MAP (modified atmosphere packaging) is more effective than vacuum packaging for poultry and both were more effective than conventional tray packaging. Which is a very clear and obvious proof for MAP increasing the shelf life of the product.

Some other studies found out that simply sealing chicken meat carcasses in polyethylene (PE) bags increased shelf life by 30% compared to unbagged chicken meat carcasses, most likely due to the build up of CO2 inside the bags which means that C02 extends the shelflife of poultry.

These and other data published over the last three decades indicates that modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) can extend the shelf life of meat and poultry by two - to four - fold depending on the initial quality of the product, storage temperature, package construction and design.