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Effect of dry-air chilling on sensory descriptive profiles of cooked broiler breast meat deboned four hours after the initiation of chilling¹

USDA, Agricultural Research Service, Russell Research Center, PO Box 5677, Athens, GA 30604-5677

² Corresponding author: hong.zhuang{at}ars.usda.gov

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of a dry air-chilling (AC) method on sensory texture and flavor descriptive profiles of broiler pectoralis major (fillet) and pectoralis minor (tender). The profiles of the muscles immersion-chilled and deboned at the same postmortem time and the profiles of the muscles hot-boned (or no chill) were used for the comparison. A total of 108 eviscerated carcasses (6-wk-old broilers) were obtained from a commercial processing line before the chillers. Carcasses were transported to a laboratory facility where they were either i) chilled by a dry AC method (0.7°C, 150 min in a cold room), ii) chilled by immersion chilling (IC; 0.3°C, 50 min in a chiller), or iii) not chilled (9 birds per treatment per replication). Both IC and AC fillets and tenders were removed from the bone at 4 h after the initiation of chilling (approximately 4.75 h postmortem) in a processing area (18°C). The no-chill muscles were removed immediately upon arrival. The sensory properties (21 attributes) of cooked broiler breast meat were evaluated by trained panelists using 0- to 15-point universal intensity scales. The average intensity scores of the 9 flavor attributes analyzed ranged from 0.9 to 4.0. Regardless of breast muscle type, there were no significant differences in sensory flavor descriptive profiles between the 3 treatments. The average intensity scores of the 12 texture attributes ranged from 1.5 to 7.5 and there were no significant differences between the AC and IC samples. The average intensity scores of the texture attributes, cohesiveness, hardness, cohesiveness of mass, rate of breakdown, and chewiness of the no chill fillets and tenders were significantly higher than those of either of the chilled samples. These results demonstrate that chicken breast meat from AC retains sensory flavor profile characteristics but AC results in sensory texture profile differences when compared with no-chill meat. Sensory flavor and texture profiles of AC broiler breast meat do not differ from those of IC samples when the muscles are deboned at the same time after the initiation of chilling.

Key Words: broiler • breast muscle • air chilling • immersion chilling • sensory flavor and texture

¹ Mention of a product or specific equipment does not constitute a guarantee or warranty by the USDA and does not imply its approval to the exclusion of other products that may also be suitable.