Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Athens, Georgia » U.S. National Poultry Research Center » Quality and Safety Assessment Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #298391
Title: Measurement of water-holding capacity in raw and freeze-dried broiler breast meat with visible and near-infrared spectroscopy

Author
item Bowker, Brian
item Hawkins, Samantha
item Zhuang, Hong

Submitted to: Poultry Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/18/2014
Publication Date: 5/30/2014
Citation: Bowker, B.C., Hawkins, S.A., Zhuang, H. 2014. Measurement of water-holding capacity in raw and freeze-dried broiler breast meat with visible and near-infrared spectroscopy. Poultry Science. 93:1834-1841.

Interpretive Summary: Water-holding capacity (WHC) in fresh poultry meat influences product yield for processors and sensory quality for consumers. Current methods for measuring WHC in poultry meat are destructive to the product and time consuming. This study investigated the potential for utilizing visible/near-infrared spectroscopy to classify raw and freeze-dried broiler breast meat according to WHC. Based on the visual spectra, raw breast meat samples were correctly classified into high and low-WHC categories with 88-92% accuracy. These data suggest that vis/NIR spectroscopy may be a viable, non-invasive technique for segregating broiler breast fillets by WHC.

Technical Abstract: The feasibility of using visible/near-infrared spectroscopy (vis/NIR) to segregate broiler breast fillets by water-holding capacity (WHC) was determined. Broiler breast fillets (n = 72) were selected from a commercial deboning line based on visual color assessment. Meat color (L*a*b*), pH (2 and 24 h), drip loss, and salt-induced water uptake were measured. Reflectance measurements were recorded from 400-2500 nm in both raw and freeze-dried breast meat samples. Raw and freeze-dried samples had similar spectra in the visible region (400-750 nm), but the freeze-dried samples exhibited numerous bands in the NIR region (750-2500 nm) corresponding to muscle proteins and lipids that were not observed in the NIR spectra of the raw samples. Linear discriminate analyses were used to classify fillets as high-WHC or low-WHC according to predicted meat quality characteristics. Using the visible spectra (400-750 nm), fillets could be correctly classified into high-WHC and low-WHC groups based on drip loss and salt-induced water uptake with 88-92% accuracy in raw samples and 79-86% accuracy in freeze-dried samples. Using the NIR spectra (750-2500 nm), fillets could be correctly classified into high-WHC and low-WHC groups with 74-76% accuracy in raw samples and 85-86% accuracy in freeze-dried samples. Data from this study demonstrate the potential for utilizing vis/NIR spectroscopy as a method for classifying broiler breast meat according to WHC.