title: Problem of pale soft exudative meat in broiler chickens.
abstract: 1. The occurrence of the pale, soft exudative (PSE) problem in broiler breast meat was monitored in 700 birds (random samples from 7 flocks). A rapid method of colour measurement was used in the plant to assess the colour of skinless pectoralis muscles at 24 h post mortem. In addition, 10 selected samples from each flock were further evaluated for pH, water holding, cook loss, and texture. 2. The average L* value (lightness) was 47.1 with a variance of 5.38, skewness 0.33 and kurtosis 0.66. Minimum and maximum L* values recorded during the study were 35.3 and 55.5 respectively. 3. Correlations between colour and most of the physical measurements were observed, suggesting that a rapid colour measurement method could be used to recognise PSE meat or identify flocks with a high incidence of PSE. 4. Breast muscle samples with L* > 49 showed poor water holding capacity, which indicated that these samples would be classified as PSE meat. Using this criterion it was shown that the occurrence of PSE ranged from 0% to 28%. However, the precise cut off point for PSE muscle should be determined by each processor depending on final product requirements.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal and Poultry Science, University of Guelph, Canada.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Barbut
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens; D003116:Color; D003296:Cooking; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008460:Meat / Q000592:standards*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal; D011897:Random Allocation; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D014867:Water