ARS | Publication request: Relationship between Raw Breast Meat Color Lightness Values and Functionalities or Broiler Fillets Deboned Six to Eight Hours Postmortem

Submitted to: American Society of Animal Science Annual Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: July 12, 2009
Publication Date: July 12, 2009
Citation: Zhuang, H., Savage, E.M. 2009. Relationship between Raw Breast Meat Color Lightness Values and Functionalities or Broiler Fillets Deboned Six to Eight Hours Postmortem. American Society of Animal Science Annual Meeting.

Technical Abstract: Relationship between Raw Breast Meat Color Lightness Values and Functionalities of Broiler Fillets Deboned Six to Eight Hours Postmortem H. Zhuang and E. M. Savage Quality Assessment Research Unit, USDA, Agricultural Research Service, Russell Research Center, P. O. Box 5677, Athens, Georgia 30604-5677 The relationships between International Commission on Illumination (CIE) color lightness (L*) measurements and pH, drip loss, cook yield and Warner-Bratzler (WB) shear force of broiler breast fillets deboned 6-8h postmortem were investigated. In each of three replicate trials, broiler fillets were collected from a commercial processing plant and separated based on CIE L* values (measured using a Minolta spectrophotometer on the medial side) into three color groups: light, L* > 60.5; median, 56.0 < L* < 58.8; and dark, L* < 54.5. For each fillet within each color group, pH and drip loss of the raw meat and cook yield and WB shear force of the cooked meat were determined. Our results showed that there were significant differences in pH, drip loss and shear values between the light, median and dark fillet groups. There were significant differences in cook yield between the light group and both the middle and the dark groups which were not different from each other. There were significant negative Pearson’s correlations between L* and pH and cook yield, and positive correlations between L* and drip loss and WB shear force values. These results demonstrate that functionality parameters of fillets removed from broiler carcasses at 6-8h postmortem are related to their CIE L* values.