Modeling of Chilled/Supercooled Pork Storage Quality Based on the Entropy Weight Method

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The quality of chilled meat is difficult to predict because many quality indexes need to be considered. The waste of meat resources caused by improper storage has caused huge economic losses in the meat industry. The entropy weight method (EWM) was widely used as an effective method of infusion of multiple attributes into a single index of food quality. In this study, the model based on the entropy weight method was used to predict and comprehensively evaluate the quality changes in chilled pork, and the relative error range between the measured and predicted shelf life was lower than 11%. The modeling based on EWM integrates the information from each quality index and provides accurate quality prediction, which will enable the food industry to enhance accurate judging of the shelf life and safety of meat. ABSTRACT: The entropy weight method (EWM) was developed and used to integrate multiple quality indexes of pork to generate a comprehensive measure of quality. The Arrhenius equation and chemical kinetic reaction were used to fit and generate the shelf life prediction model. The pork was stored at the temperatures of 7 °C, 4 °C, 1 °C and −1 °C. Quality indexes, such as drip loss, color, shear force, pH, TAC, TVB-N and TBARS were measured. The results show that low temperatures effectively delay microbial growth and lipid oxidation. The regression coefficients (R(2)) for the comprehensive scores at each temperature were greater than 0.973 and the activation energy Ea was 9.7354 × 104 kJ mol(−1). The predicted shelf life of pork stored at 7 °C, 4 °C, 1 °C and −1 °C was 4.35 d, 6.85 d, 10.88 d and 14.90 d, respectively. In conclusion, EWM is an effective method to predict the shelf life of chilled/supercooled pork.