Eur Food Res Technol (2006) 222: 667–673 DOI 10.1007/s00217-005-0194-8 ORIGINAL PAPER ă ă Nuray Erkan à Ozkan Ozden à ă Didem Uc¸ok Alakavuk · S¸ Yasemin Yildirim · ˙ gur ¨ Inu˘ Muge Spoilage and shelf life of sardines (Sardina pilchardus) packed in modified atmosphere Received: August 2005 / Revised: 26 October 2005 / Accepted: 31 October 2005 / Published online: 16 December 2006 C Springer-Verlag 2005 Abstract The effect of modified atmosphere packing (MAP) (O2 /CO2 /N2 , 5/35/60 (%) and O2 /CO2 /N2 , 5/70/25 (%)) on the quality of sardine stored in refrigerator was investigated in terms of sensory, chemical and microbiological analysis Although chemical and microbiological analyses indicated that modified atmosphere packing prolonged the shelf life of sardine compared with that of air packing, sensory analysis showed that the extension of shelf life was (condition: O2 /CO2 /N2 , 5/70/25 (%)) days and in air (condition: O2 /CO2 / N2 , 5/35/60 (%)) days The results showed significant differences (p