ARS | Publication request: EFFECT OF DRY AIR CHILLING ON WARNER-BRATZLER SHEAR FORCE AND WATER-HOLDING CAPACITY OF BROILER MEAT DEBONED FOUR HOURS POSTMORTEM

Submitted to: International Journal of Poultry Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: August 21, 2008
Publication Date: September 12, 2008
Publisher's URL: http://www.pjbs.org.ijps
Citation: Zhuang, H., Savage, E.M., Smith, D.P., Berrang, M.E. 2008. Effect of dry air chilling on warner-bratzler shear force and water-holding capacity of broiler meat deboned four hours postmortem. International Journal of Poultry Science. 7(8):743-748.

Interpretive Summary: INTERPRETIVE SUMMARY Air-chilling (AC) has gained popularity in the U.S. poultry industry recent years. The advantage of AC has been associated with the better texture quality of chicken meat compared to water immersion chilling (IC). However, previous research suggested that this advantage might vary with the experimental conditions, such as deboning time. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of a dry-AC method on texture properties of shear force and water-holding capacity (WHC) of broiler breast meat deboned 4h postmortem compared to hot-boned (no chill) and immersion-chilled meat. Our research showed that when compared to hot-boned chicken breast meat, the chicken breast meat that was chilled using a dry-air chilling method and deboned at 4h postmortem showed the same WHC and reduced shear force values (the lower the shear force value, the more tender the meat). However, there were no differences in both shear force and WHC between air-chilled samples and water immersion-chilled samples deboned at 4h postmortem. Our study indicates that AC can retain WHC and improve tenderness of early-deboned chicken breast meat. However, for the chicken breast meat deboned at 4h post-mortem, there was no evidence that AC resulted in better texture quality than ice-water IC.

Technical Abstract: TECHNICAL ABSTRACT Advantages of air chilling (AC) methods over immersion chilling (IC) methods in quality retention and improvement of deboned chicken breast meat depends on experimental conditions, such as deboning time. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of a dry-AC method on shear force and water-holding capacity (WHC) of broiler breast meat deboned 4h postmortem compared to hot-boned (no chill) and immersion-chilled meat. Ready-to-cook broiler carcasses (approximately 42d old) were hot-boned or were chilled by ice water immersion (0.3oC, 50 min) or cross-flow cold, dry air (0.7oC, 150 min) before pectoralis (p.) major and p. minor were removed from the bone at 4h postmortem. Shear force was measured using a Warner-Bratzler (WB) method and WHC was estimated using cooking yield, drip loss, amount of bound water (filter paper method) and water uptake (swell/centrifugation method). Regardless of muscle type, there was a significant difference in WB shear values between AC and no chill samples; however, there was no difference in the shear force between AC and IC. Regardless of measurement methods, there were no differences (P > 0.05) in WHC between the three treatments. These results demonstrate that when compared to no chill, AC followed by 4h postmortem deboning can lead to the differences in shear force values while WHC properties can be retained. For broiler breast meat deboned 4h postmortem, AC does not result in any significant differences in shear force and WHC when compared to IC.