EFFECT OF STUNNING TIME AND POLYPHOSPHATES ON QUALITY OF COOKED CHICKEN BREAST MEAT

The objective of this research was to determine effects of stunning du ration and polyphosphates on color, pH, and texture of chicken breast meat. Sixty broiler chickens were electrically stunned for 2 to 10 s i n 2-s intervals and then slaughtered. Left and right Pectoralis major muscles were excised 1 h postmortem. The left muscles (treated) were t reated with a sodium tripolyphosphate salt solution, and the right mus cles (controls) were treated with a salt solution alone. All muscles w ere cooked to an endpoint temperature of 72 C in a 95 C water bath. Me asurements of muscle pH were taken on the meat 1 h post-mortem, after treating, and after cooking. Color values and Warner-Bratzler shear va lues were evaluated on each cooked meat sample. As stunning time incre ased, pH increased at Ih postmortem but treating with either of the so lutions eliminated this trend. Muscle pH also increased upon cooking e xcept in the polyphosphate-treated muscles, because the latter muscles achieved maximum pH prior to cooking. Stunning had no apparent effect on color values of the cooked meat; however, polyphosphate treatment resulted in meat that was darker and less red than controls. Longer st unning times resulted in greater shear values but polyphosphates did n ot affect Warner-Bratzler results. Taken together, these data suggest that processing variables that affect muscle pH also affect quality at tributes.