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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Athens, Georgia » U.S. National Poultry Research Center » Quality and Safety Assessment Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #298983
Title: Postmortem chemical changes in poultry breast meat monitored with visible-near infrared spectroscopy

Author
item Hawkins, Samantha
item Bowker, Brian
item Zhuang, Hong
item Gamble, Gary
item Holser, Ronald

Submitted to: Journal of Food Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/23/2014
Publication Date: 4/3/2014
Citation: Hawkins, S.A., Bowker, B.C., Zhuang, H., Gamble, G.R., Holser, R.A. 2014. Post-mortem chemical changes in poultry breast meat monitored with vis-NIR spectroscopy. Journal of Food Research. 3(3):57-65.

Interpretive Summary: Chicken meat undergoes significant chemical and structural changes with postmortem time that influence meat quality characteristics. The objective of this study was to measure the visible-near infrared (vis-NIR) spectral differences in broiler breast fillets at 0.5, 4, 24, and 120 h postmortem. Muscle samples were flash frozen and freeze-dried prior to spectra analysis. A spectroscopic technique was used to identify muscle protein changes during postmortem aging. Freeze-dried samples were used to help eliminate interference from water in the identification of the chemical changes. This study demonstrated that vis-NIR spectroscopy can be useful in identifying the early postmortem changes to proteins and may be useful in identifying the mechanism that initiates different quality traits in the meat.

Technical Abstract: Chicken meat undergoes significant chemical and structural changes with postmortem time that influence meat quality characteristics. The objective of this study was to measure the visible-near infrared (vis-NIR) spectral differences in broiler breast fillets at 0.5, 4, 24, and 120 h postmortem. Muscle samples were flash frozen and freeze-dried prior to spectra analysis. In the visible region of the spectra (400-700 nm) postmortem changes in myoglobin protein peaks were observed. Freeze-drying muscle samples provided additional information from the NIR region of the spectra (800-2500 nm) on muscle protein changes during postmortem aging. Alterations to the '-sheet and '-helix structures of myofibrillar proteins and changes in the amount of bound water were observed in the NIR region with postmortem aging. Data from this study demonstrate that postmortem changes in breast fillets related to meat quality traits are detectable using vis-NIR spectroscopy.