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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 #313352
Title: Effect of marination on CIE L* and pH values of chicken breast pectoralis major with different color lightness

Author
item Zhuang, Hong
item Bowker, Brian

Submitted to: European Symposium on Quality of Poultry Meat
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/25/2015
Publication Date: 5/10/2015
Citation: Zhuang, H., Bowker, B.C. 2015. Effect of marination on CIE L* and pH values of chicken breast pectoralis major with different color lightness. European Symposium on Quality of Poultry Meat. World's Poultry Science Journal, Book of Abstracts, volume 71 (Suppl. 1), page 91..

Interpretive Summary: none

Technical Abstract: Color lightness (CIE L* values) and pH are widely used as quality indicators for raw poultry breast fillets (pectoralis major). The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of vacuum-tumbling marination on L* and pH values of raw chicken breast meat with different color lightness. Early deboned (2 h postmortem) breast fillets from electrically-stimulated broiler carcasses were selected based on their initial color lightness and marinated in a vacuum tumbler (-0.6 atm, 16 rpm, 20 min) yielding a targeted 15% uptake. Fillet color (dorsal surface) and pH (cranial end) were measured at both 4 h and 48 h postmortem. Results show that for pale fillets (average L* = 61) there was no difference in L* values between 4h and 48h non-marinated samples. However, for non-marinated normal (average L* = 53) and dark (average L* = 47) fillets, L* values were more than 5 units higher at 48h compared to 4h postmortem (P<0.05). There were no pH differences between the two postmortem times in non-marinated fillets regardless of the initial color lightness. Marination significantly affected both L* and pH values (P<0.05) in the chicken fillets. In pale fillets, marination reduced L* values by more than 6 units and increased pH by more than 0.2 units (P<0.05). In normal fillets, L* value of marinated fillets at 48h was higher (>1.5 units) than at 4 h postmortem, but was lower (>3.5 units) than non-marinated samples at 48h. The fillet pH was not influenced by marination or postmortem time. For dark fillets, L* and pH values of marinated fillets were higher than 4h controls (P<0.05); however, there were no differences in L* and pH values between controls and marinated fillets at 48h postmortem. Our data demonstrate that the effects of marination on CIE L* and pH values of early-deboned broiler breast meat depend on raw material color lightness. Marination reduces color lightness in pale broiler breast fillets, prevents color lightness from increasing during postmortem aging in normal fillets, and has no effect on changes in color lightness with postmortem aging in dark fillets.