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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Athens, Georgia » U.S. National Poultry Research Center » Quality and Safety Assessment Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #277328
Title: Effects of Broiler Pectoralis Major Size on Sensory Descriptive Flavor and Texture Profiles of Cooked Meat

Author
item Zhuang, Hong
item SAVAGE, ELIZABETH - Former ARS Employee

Submitted to: World Poultry Congress Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/23/2012
Publication Date: 8/8/2012
Citation: Zhuang, H., Savage, E. 2012. Effects of Broiler Pectoralis Major Size on Sensory Descriptive Flavor and Texture Profiles of Cooked Meat [abstract]. World Poultry Congress Proceedings.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Four trials were conducted to compare sensory descriptive profiles of cooked broiler breast fillets categorized by fillet (pectoralis major) size. In each trial, 20 large fillets, 20 medium fillets and 20 small fillets (deboned at 6-8h postmortem from 6-week old birds) were obtained from a commercial processing plant. The fillets were trimmed and weighed before ten fillets for each of 3 weight categories were chosen based on the weight as follows: small, average weight = 112 g; medium, average weight = 153 g; and large, Average weight = 204 g. Descriptive sensory flavor and texture attributes were measured after frozen samples were thawed for 24 h at a refrigerated temperature (2oC) and cooked to an endpoint temperature of 78oC. Sensory evaluations were performed by trained descriptive panelists using 0-15 universal intensity scales for 10 flavor and 8 texture attributes. Our results show that there were significant differences (p < 0.05) in intensity scores of sensory descriptive flavor and texture attributes cardboardy, cohesiveness, hardness and juiciness between the three size categories. The average cohesiveness and hardness scores of the cooked large and small fillets were significantly higher than the medium fillets. The juiciness score of the large fillets was significantly higher than that of the small fillets. However, the juiciness score of the medium fillets did not differ from that of either small or large fillets. The average cardboardy score of the small fillets was significantly higher than those of the medium and large fillets, which were not different from each other. These results indicate that fillet size could influence sensory descriptive flavor and texture profiles of broiler breast meat. Larger fillets have the better sensory flavor quality compared to small fillets. Medium weight fillets have the better sensory texture quality compared to smaller and larger fillets.