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Title: THE EFFECT OF PRESSURE AND PHOSPHATE MARINATION ON YIELD, SHEAR AND COLOR OF BROILER BREAST MEAT

Author
item Smith, Douglas
item Young, Louis

Submitted to: European Symposium on Quality of Poultry Meat
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/29/2005
Publication Date: 5/23/2005
Citation: Smith, D.P., Young, L.L. 2005. The effect of pressure and phosphate marination on yield, shear and color of broiler breast meat [abstract]. European Symposium on Quality of Poultry Meat.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: A significant portion of raw poultry meat in the U.S. is marinated prior to consumption, usually with a mixture of water, salt, and phosphates that is either injected into or vacuum tumbled with the meat. Vacuum tumble (VT) marination is the most widely practiced from of marination in the U.S. Theoretically, VT with phosphate works because the meat physically expands to allow phosphate to enter the tissue, which binds with proteins in a structure that retains moisture. This study was designed to determine whether pressure, phosphate, or both were responsible for the initial increase in weight and retention during cooking of the meat as a result of marination. In each of three replicate trials, 60 broiler breast fillets were assigned to tumbler vessels with pressures equivalent to either vacuum (15 mm Hg), ambient (AT), or positive (PT, at 15 PSI), with or without phosphate in the marination solution (added at 15% of raw weight - either 91% water, 6% salt, and 3% phosphate or 94% water and 6% salt, respectively) in a 3X2 design. All tumblers were operated at 15 RPM for 20 min at a temperature of 3 C. Raw fillets were weighed, color measured via colorimeter, marinated, stored 1 h, reweighed, cooked, reweighed, color re-measured, held overnight, and two strips per fillet sheared via the Warner-Bratzler method. Weight calculations determined percentage marinate pickup (MARPCT), percentage 1 h drip loss (DRPPCT), percentage cook yield (CKYLD); the two shear force values were averaged (WBSHR); and, triplicate measures of CIE lightness (L*), redness (a*), and yellowness (b*) per sample were averaged. Phosphate had no significant (P<0.05) effect on MARPCT; the type of pressure application was significant, however, as AT (12.8) samples picked up more marinade than PT (11.4), but neither was different from VT (12.0). There was no effect of pressure or phosphate on DRPPCT (mean = '1.06). For CKYLD, there was no effect due to pressure treatment; phosphate, however, significantly increased CKYLD (86.1 vs. 76.6). There were no differences in raw color due to pressure or phosphate treatments, but phosphate increased cooked L* from 70.6 to 71.6, and decreased cooked a* from 1.57 to 0.95 (no practical significance). A significant treatment interaction was observed for WBSHR, as kg force to shear for VT (9.2) was higher than either PT (5.6) or AT (5.5) for the phosphate treatment, but shear force for PT (9.3) was higher than VT (6.0) or AT (6.2) for the non-phosphate treatment. Overall, the type of pressure application during tumbling has no effect on DRPPCT, CKYLD, or color values, and only minor effect on MARPCT, and the major effect obtained with phosphate is increase in CKYLD. Based on these data, processors may improve yield with phosphate in marination where allowed, but vacuum pressure during tumbling is not necessary.