Synergistic thermosonication combined with germinants and licorice extract improves microbial inactivation, physicochemical quality, and volatile profile stability of ready-to-eat chicken breasts.

This study evaluated thermosonication combined with germinants and licorice extract (GTL) in the "germination-inactivation-inhibition" strategy to control spore contamination and preserve the quality of ready-to-eat (RTE) chicken breasts. The microbial counts, color, pH, texture, lipid oxidation, and volatile profile of RTE chicken breasts were assessed. The result demonstrated that the GTL treatment significantly reduced the total viable counts (TVC) and Clostridium counts, with TVC remaining below 4 log CFU/g and Clostridium counts lower than in the control (4.42 vs. 7.31 log CFU/g) by day 6 (p < 0.05). The approach effectively mitigated the changes in color, texture, and moisture distribution, and postponed the increase in pH, lipid oxidation, and volatile nitrogen accumulation in RTE chicken breasts. In addition, a total of 51 volatile compounds were detected by gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS). Results from the E-nose and GC-IMS showed that GTL treatment preserved a more stable volatile profile than high-temperature sterilization, including esters (e.g., 2-methylpropyl acetate), alcohols (e.g., 4-methyl-2-pentanol-D), aldehydes (e.g., 2-methylpropanal), and furans (e.g., 2-ethylfuran-D). These findings demonstrate that GTL is a promising approach for reducing microbial contamination and maintaining the edible quality of RTE chicken breasts under accelerated storage conditions.