title: Combination of muscle tension and crust-freeze-air-chilling improved efficacy of air chilling and quality of broiler fillets.
abstract: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of water immersion chilling (WIC), air chilling (AC), and crust-freeze-air-chilling (CFAC) on the efficacy of broiler chilling and quality of breast fillets with and without muscle tension (MT), restraining both wings behind the carcass. In each of 3 replications, 66 birds were purchased locally and processed at the Michigan State University meat laboratory. After evisceration, one-half of the birds were subjected to MT and the remaining birds received no MT. Twenty-two birds (11 with and 11 without MT) per chilling were randomly assigned to WIC (ice/water slurry at 0.2°C), AC (air at 1°C/1.5 m/s), or CFAC (air at -12°C/1.5 m/s). After chilling and aging for 3 h postmortem (PM), all breast fillets were deboned, one-half of which were immediately quick-frozen or cooked, whereas the remaining half were further aged on ice for 24 h PM. All left fillets were used for pH, R-value, and sarcomere measurements, whereas all right fillets were used for shear force. During chilling, breast temperature was reduced from 40 to 4°C in an average of 62, 68, and 140 min for WIC, CFAC, and AC, respectively. The birds at 3 h PM had higher pH and shear force than those of birds at 24 h PM except the CFAC with no MT (P < 0.05). Breast fillets with MT showed lower shear force than the fillets without MT at 24 h PM (P < 0.05) in AC and CFAC. Based on these findings, the combination of CFAC and MT appears to improve both air chilling efficacy and breast fillet quality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Michigan State University, East Lansing 48824.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sansawat
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing 48824.
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing 48824.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Michigan State University, East Lansing 48824.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science and Functional Food Research Center, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 500-757, Korea.
authors.forename: K B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Chin
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Michigan State University, East Lansing 48824 Department of Animal Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing 48824 kangi@msu.edu.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens; D003080:Cold Temperature; D005511:Food Handling / Q000379:methods*; D063427:Food Quality; D008297:Male; D008460:Meat / Q000032:analysis* / Q000592:standards*; D009129:Muscle Tonus; D010369:Pectoralis Muscles / Q000502:physiology
keywords: air chilling; broiler processing; crust-freeze-air-chilling; muscle tensioning; water chilling