Abstract
This study were carried out for investigation of physicochemical and sensory characteristics of shelf-life of Korean vaccum packaged chilled pork hams for export. The samples were stored at 0$\pm$1$^{\circ}C$ (A and B companies) and 2$\pm$1$^{\circ}C$ (C and D companies). In the proximate analysis of composition of hams, moistures were 75.36~76.57%, crude proteins 19.26~21.08%, crude fat 1.40~3.69% and crude ash 1.03~1.13%. TBA values were 0.192~0.264 mgMA/kg and did not change much during all storage times regardless of storage temperature. VBN values were 12.14~14.01mg / 100g after 50 days in the storage at $0^{\circ}C$, but the samples stored at 2$^{\circ}C$ exceeded 20mg/100g at 50 days. The values of pH were 5.71~6.50, which are higher than those of loins during all storage times. Purge losses were 1.23~1.98% at the initial time and 2.83~10.59% after 50 days. So, the variation among samples appeared to be large. Cooking losses appeared to be 33.86~56.24%. In the result of sensory evaluation of cooked meat, the ham of B company obtained good scores in all items. But, after 20 days, all samples were not significantly different in total acceptability.
