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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 #403476
Research Project: Assessment of Quality Attributes of Poultry Products, Grain, Seed, Nuts, and Feed

Location: Quality and Safety Assessment Research Unit

Title: Effect of Meat Temperature on Moisture Loss and Water Properties in Broiler Pectoralis Major with The Woody Breast Condition

Author
item Zhuang, Hong
item PANG, BIN - Qingdao Agricultural University
item Bowker, Brian

Submitted to: International Congress of Meat Science and Technology Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/26/2023
Publication Date: 8/20/2023
Citation: Zhuang, H., Pang, B., Bowker, B.C. 2023. Effect of Meat Temperature on Moisture Loss and Water Properties in Broiler Pectoralis Major with The Woody Breast Condition. International Congress of Meat Science and Technology Proceedings. 60.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Cook loss is one of the quality differences between normal and woody breast (WB) meat. Time-domain proton nuclear magnetic resonance (TD-NMR) has been used to investigate effects of cooking on water properties (i.e. mobility and distribution) in meat. Our objective was to investigate the effects of meat temperature (from 40 to 90') on moisture loss and water properties in broiler pectoralis major with the woody breast condition. Broiler pectoralis major were collected from a processing plant and classified into normal (n = 18) and severe WB meat (n = 18). Meat samples were placed in sealed plastic bags and cooked in a water bath until the internal temperature reached 40, 53, 57, 68, or 90'. Weight changes before and after immersion were used for assessing moisture loss. Water properties were measured using a time-domain 1H-NMR Analyser. Distributed exponential fitting analysis of T2 data was carried out with Dynamic Center software (Bruker, Billerica, MA, USA) to reveal different transverse relaxation components, relaxation time constants of the intra- and extra-myofibrillar water (T21 and T22, respectively) and their relative portions (P21 and P22). SAS GLM model was used for statistical analysis and mean separations. The WB condition resulted in more than 5% moisture loss when the endpoint temperature of meat reached 68' and more than 10% when it was 90'. In WB meat, moisture loss increased linearly; however, moisture loss showed three phases in normal meat, significant loss from 40 to 53', no changes from 53 to 68', and significant loss from 68 to 90'. Compared with normal meat, the WB condition resulted in increased T21, T22, and P22 and decreased P21 in raw meat. Increasing temperature from 40 to 90' resulted in continuous decreases in T22 in WB meat, however, T22 values did not change from 40 to 68' in normal samples. Moisture loss is very strongly correlated with both T21 and T22 (r > 0.88) in WB meat; however, there was very strong correlation (r > 0.95) between moisture loss and only T21 in the normal meat. These results demonstrate that the WB condition alters not only the total amount of moisture loss but also the pattern in moisture loss in broiler pectoralis major during cooking. Alterations in the extra-myofibrillar compartment is responsible for the differences in temperature-dependent moisture loss between normal and WB meat.