Descriptive texture analyses of cooked patties made of chicken breast with the woody breast condition

Authors: Sanchez Brambila, Gabriela; Chatterjee, Debolina; Bowker, Brian; Zhuang, Hong

Submitted to: Poultry Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/25/2017
Publication Date: 6/16/2017
Citation: Sanchez Brambila, G.Y., Chatterjee, D., Bowker, B.C., Zhuang, H. 2017. Descriptive texture analyses of cooked patties made of chicken breast with the woody breast condition. Poultry Science. 96(9):3489-3494.

Interpretive Summary: As chickens raised for meat get bigger and grow faster, numinous muscle abnormalities are appearing. One of them is the woody breast condition. Chicken fillets with the woody breast condition are characterized by hardened muscle tissue that spreads through fillets and show negative texture quality after cooking. In some chicken processing plants, woody breast meat is sorted and used for further processing. However, the impact of woody breast meat on texture property of a further processing product, comminuted meat, is unknown. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of the woody breast condition on the texture quality of ground meat patties made from chicken breast fillets. Our results show that the woody breast condition does not have any negative effect on muscle shear force and sensory texture quality attributes springiness, cohesiveness, hardness, juiciness, cohesiveness of mass, bolus size, wetness of wad, fibrous, rate of breakdown, and chewiness. Data suggest that chicken fillets with the woody breast condition can be used to make a ground meat without adverse effects on texture quality of cooked products.

Technical Abstract: The woody breast (WB) condition is known to negatively influence the texture characteristics and quality of intact broiler breast fillets, but the impact of WB on comminuted meat products are unknown. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of WB on the texture and cooking properties of ground meat patties made from chicken breast fillets (Pectoralis major). Broiler breasts were collected on three separate trial days from the commercial deboning line at 3 h postmortem and classified into normal and severe WB fillet categories. Individual fillets were either ground and formed into patties or left intact prior to being stored for 7 days at -20C. Samples were then cooked directly from the frozen state to an endpoint temperature of 76C for muscle shear (patties: Allo-Kramer shear; fillets: Warner-Bratzler shear) and descriptive sensory analysis of texture attributes. Cook loss was greater (P < 0.05) in intact WB fillets compared to normal fillets, but was not different between WB and normal patties. Shear force was not different between normal and WB patties. Sensory analysis showed that intact WB fillets exhibited greater springiness and hardness values than normal fillets. However, WB and normal patties exhibited similar values for cohesiveness, hardness, juiciness, fibrous, and rate of breakdown. WB patties exhibited lower springiness and chewiness scores than normal patties. Data suggest that undesirable differences in the cooked texture characteristics between WB and normal breast meat are minimized in a ground product.