Texture characteristics of wooden breast fillets deboned at different postmortem times

Authors: TASONIERO, GIULIA - Oak Ridge Institute For Science And Education (ORISE); Bowker, Brian; Zhuang, Hong

Submitted to: Poultry Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/26/2020
Publication Date: 5/28/2020
Citation: Tasoniero, G., Bowker, B.C., Zhuang, H. 2020. Texture characteristics of wooden breast fillets deboned at different postmortem times. Poultry Science 99(8):4096-4099. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psj.2020.04.028.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psj.2020.04.028

Interpretive Summary: The “Wooden Breast” (WB) condition is an emerging defect of chicken breast meat, which is characterized by remarkable hardness of the fillet, a notable decrease of meat functionality and poor texture of the cooked meat So far, the stiffness of WB meat has been considered a consequence of an intense change in the muscle fibers as a result of tissue degeneration. However, the reasons for muscle hardness development is still unclear. Broiler breast fillets with the wooden breast condition exhibit abnormal muscle hardness and rigidity in the raw state and altered cooked meat texture. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of post mortem deboning time on the hardness and rigidity of WB fillets. Findings from this study suggest that early postmortem changes in breast muscles and their influence on meat texture characteristics differ between normal and wooden breast fillets.

Technical Abstract: The study aimed to understand whether deboning time contributes to the altered texture attributes of Wooden Breast fillets. To this purpose, 30 unaffected (NORM) and 30 severely affected (WB)carcasses were selected at 15 min PM and allotted into treatments with different deboning times: A (5 NORM + 5 WB; right fillets deboned at 15 min PM), B (5 NORM + 5 WB; right fillets deboned at 3 h PM) and C (5 NORM + 5 WB; right fillets deboned at 6 h PM). Left fillets from each carcass were deboned at 24 h PM. Multiple instrumental texture analyses were performed on the cranial-middle portion of the Pectoralis major muscles. Irrespective of deboning time, all fillets were subjected to a single 30% compression in the raw state at 24 h PM. All fillets were cooked at 24 h PM and subjected to shear force assessments at 48 h PM using BMORS, MORS and Warner-Bratzler shear force. Using an ANOVA mixed model, deboning time was evaluated as a fixed effect within muscle condition (sampling session and carcass ID as random effects). Compression force assessment of raw meat at 24 h PM, showed that WB fillets exhibited the greatest hardness when they were deboned at 6 h PM (15 min = 35.4 N; 3 h = 30.9 N; 6 h = 48.0 N; 24 h = 30.6 N; P<0.05). Differently, deboning time had no effect (P>0.05) on raw compression force values in NORM fillets. In cooked NORM fillets, shear force values were the greatest in fillets deboned at 15 min and shear force gradually declined with deboning time through 24 h PM. On the contrary, no changes (P>0.05) in shear values due to different deboning times were observed in cooked WB meat regardless of shear method. These results suggest that early postmortem changes in breast muscles and their influence on meat texture are different between normal and WB fillets.