Effect of muscle opposition during rigor on development of broiler breast meat tenderness

• Published in: Poultry science Vol. 76; no. 5; pp. 785 - 787
• Main Authors: Cason, J.A. (USDA, ARS, Russell Research Center, Athens, GA.), Lyon, C.E, Papa, C.M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01.05.1997
• Subjects: Animals; BONING; BREAST MUSCLE; BROILER CHICKENS; CAMBIOS POST MORTEM; CARNE DE POLLO; CHICKEN MEAT; Chickens; Cooking; DESHUESADO; DESOSSAGE; Female; Food Handling - methods; Food Technology - methods; Food Technology - standards; HOT BONING; Male; Meat - standards; MODIFICATION POSTMORTEM; MUSCLE; Muscle, Skeletal - physiology; MUSCLES; MUSCULOS; POLLO DE ENGORDE; POSTMORTEM CHANGES; POULET DE CHAIR; Poultry Diseases - physiopathology; RESISTANCE MECANIQUE; RESISTENCIA MECANICA; Rigor Mortis - physiopathology; Rigor Mortis - veterinary; SHEAR STRENGTH; STRENGTH; TENDERNESS; TENDON; TENDONES; TENDONS; TENDRETE; TERNURA; Time Factors; VIANDE DE POULET
• DOI: 10.1093/ps/76.5.785
• ISSN: 0032-5791

Two experiments were conducted to determine the effect of mutual opposition of breast muscles during rigor development on ultimate tenderness of the cooked meat. In each experiment, 32 broilers were conventionally processed. Immediately after evisceration, the supracoracoideus tendon was cut at the humeral insertion on one wing (treatment) and the opposite wing was sham-operated with the tendon exposed but not cut (control). The tendon of insertion for the Pectoralis minor muscle was cut to prevent the opposition of breast muscles during rigor, while avoiding confounding effects caused by making cuts on the muscles, as would occur during typical deboning. Cutting the tendon significantly (P 0.05) increased Warner-Bratzler shear values after cooking for both the Pectoralis major and P. minor. Deboning at 2 h post-mortem resulted in shear values for the P. major of 7.22 kg for controls and 9.08 kg for treated carcasses; P. minor shear values were 2.98 kg for controls and 4.04 kg for treated carcasses. Deboning at 24 h post-mortem produced P. major shear values of 4.68 kg for controls and 5.68 kg for treated carcasses. On whole carcasses, breast muscle opposition during rigor contributes to the tenderness of the cooked meat