Rigor development and meat quality of large and small broilers and the use of Allo-Kramer shear, needle puncture, and razor blade shear to measure texture

Department of Poultry Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701, USA.

In each of 2 trials, 75 female and 75 male broilers of different sizes (large and small) were obtained from a commercial grower and were commercially processed. Breast fillets were deboned at 0.25, 1.5, 3, 6, and 24 h postmortem (total n = 15 per treatment per time point). Muscle pH and L* value were determined for each deboning time. Breast fillets were subjected to texture analysis using Allo-Kramer (10-blade), needle puncture (2 mm diameter), or razor blade shear (8.9 mm wide) methods. Allo-Kramer tests were performed on a strip (40 x 20 x 7 mm); needle puncture and razor blade shear were performed on intact muscles. Body size and sex had no effect on rigor development or color as indicated by no significant difference in breast muscle pH, R-value, or L* value. Allo-Kramer and razor blade tests exhibited significant shear value differences among samples deboned early (<1.5 h) and late (>6 h) PM. Allo-Kramer shear and razor blade tests performed similarly for differentiating breast meat of different toughness though Allo-Kramer shear force and razor blade energy were only moderately correlated (r = 0.72). Although both instrumental tests were performed in the same approximate area on each breast, it is possible that variation within the breast would have caused this marginal correlation. Although further studies would be necessary to compare the performance of both tests for assessing poultry meat toughness, the proposed razor blade test has the advantage of requiring no sample preparation (i.e., cutting a strip of constant dimensions) other than cooking.

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