Evaluation of visible spectroscopy and low-1 field nuclear magnetic resonance techniques for predicting defects in broiler breast fillets

Authors: PANG, BIN - Qingdao Agricultural University; Bowker, Brian; YU, XIANG - Hubei University; SUN, JING-XIN - Qingdao Agricultural University; Zhuang, Hong

Submitted to: Journal of Food Engineering
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/14/2022
Publication Date: 9/19/2022
Citation: Pang, B., Bowker, B.C., Yu, X., Sun, J., Zhuang, H. 2022. Evaluation of visible spectroscopy and low-1 field nuclear magnetic resonance techniques for predicting defects in broiler breast fillets. Journal of Food Engineering. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2022.109386.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2022.109386

Interpretive Summary: The woody breast (WB) condition and the pale, soft and exudative (PSE) condition in broiler breast meat are two emerging quality defects in industry. Although these two defects are defined differently, both exhibit some quality traits similar to each other. The breast meat with any of them shows pale color and poor water-holding capacity (WHC). Visible spectroscopy (VIS) has been demonstrated in the prediction of the PSE condition in broiler breast meat. Low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR) is a good technology for providing useful information about meat WHC. Experiments have shown that there was significantly differences in water properties, measured with LF-NMR, between WB and normal meat. Thus, the objective of this study was to explore the potential of using VIS and LF-NMR techniques to differentiate three muscle conditions, normal, PSE, and WB, in raw intact broiler breast fillets. Our data analyses reveal that LF-NMR spectra have a great potential to differentiate the WB condition from NORM and PSE conditions; however, the VIS spectra have a better potential to differentiate the PSE condition from NORM condition. Chemometrics models based on the combination of LF-NMR and VIS spectra greatly improve the potentials to distinguish the normal, PSE, and WB conditions in raw intact broiler breast fillets, although broiler breast meat with the PSE condition and WB condition shows some degree similarity in technological properties. This study provides an example to combine two non-destructive, rapid, and simple methods and predict meat quality defects.

Technical Abstract: The potential of visible spectroscopy (VIS) and low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR) combined with chemometrics was investigated for differentiation of three muscle conditions, normal (NORM), pale, soft and exudative (PSE), and woody breast (WB) in broiler pectoralis major. A total of 162 of pectoralis major, 54 for each muscle condition, were selected. Meat visible and transverse relaxation spectra were collected using a spectrophotometer and LF-NMR, respectively. Principal component analyses (PCA) showed that VIS spectra showed better separation of PSE from NORM. Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill pulse sequence (CPMG) spectra worked better in distinguishing WB from NORM and PSE meat. However, the combination of both spectra differentiated three categories. PCA linear discriminant analysis (PCA-LDA) and support vector machine discriminant analysis (SVM-DA) models developed based on the spectra further demonstrated the results of PCA analyses in the accuracy of prediction of the meat defects.