Dietary supplementation versus direct post mortem addition of alpha-tocopherol on lipid and colour stability in cooked turkey breast patties

The effects of dietary supplementation with all-rac-alpha-tocopheryl acetat e and postmortem addition of alpha-tocopherol on lipid and colour stability in cooked turkey breast patties were examined. Day old female turkey poult s (n = 14) were randomly divided into two groups (n = 7) and fed diets cont aining 20 (E20) and 600 (E600) mg all-rac-alpha-tocopheryl acetate/kg feed for 21 w prior to slaughter. Three batches of turkey breast patties (30 g) were formed: E20, E20 plus 600 mg alpha-tocopherol dissolved in 1% light wh ite mineral oil (ES) and E600. The patties were cooked, over-wrapped in oxy gen permeable polyvinyl-chloride film and displayed in a refrigerated (4 de grees C) cabinet under fluorescent light for 9 d. 2-Thio-barbituric acid re active substance (TBARS) values and Hunter 'a' values were determined durin g the display period. Following 3 d of refrigerated (4 degrees C) display, E600 patties were significantly (p less than or equal to 0.01) more stable to lipid oxidation than ES patties. This is despite the fact that the ES pa tties contained 95-fold more alpha-tocopherol than the E600 patties. Howeve r, the alpha-tocopherol added post mortem significantly (p less than or equ al to 0.05) protected patties against lipid oxidation compared to the contr ol. No significant differences were determined between Hunter 'a' values fo r the three treatment batches at any time during refrigerated (4 degrees C) display. However, trends clearly demonstrated E600 patties had higher Hunt er 'a' Values than E20 or ES patties at all times during display. (C) 1999 Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology. Published by Elsevier Sc ience Ltd. All rights reserved.