COMPARISON OF A MODIFIED ATMOSPHERE STUNNING-KILLING SYSTEM TO CONVENTIONAL ELECTRICAL STUNNING AND KILLING ON SELECTED BROILER BREAST MUSCLE RIGOR DEVELOPMENT AND MEAT QUALITY ATTRIBUTES

Two experiments were conducted to compare the effects of a 70:30 argon :carbon dioxide Modified Atmosphere Stun-Kill (MASK) system to both a low voltage (LV) and a high current (HC) electrical stunning and conve ntional killing system on broiler breast rigor development and meat qu ality. In Experiment 1, the effects on breast muscle pH and meat tende rness of the MASK system and the LV system were compared. In Experimen t 2, the MASK system was compared to both HC and LV stunning for pH, R -value, C.L.E. L, a*, b*, cooked yield, and tenderness of broiler bre ast meat. In Experiment 1, there were no significant differences in br east muscle pH between LV and MASK, except at 24 h. Only at 5 h post-m ortem did the MASK system result in significantly tougher breast meat. In Experiment 2, there were no significant differences between treatm ents in breast muscle color or cooked yield at any sampling time. The breast muscle from birds subjected to the HC stun had consistently hig her pH values until 5 h post-mortem, at which time the breast meat fro m birds subjected to the MASK system had higher pH. R-value data showe d a similar trend, with the HC stunned birds having the lower R-values until 5 h post-mortem. Breast meat tenderness values for the three tr eatments were significantly different only at 3 and 5 h post-mortem, w hen birds stunned with HC had the highest shear values. The MASK syste m did not exhibit any rigor accelerating benefits when compared to LV stunning and conventional killing, and only minimal rigor acceleration when compared to HC killing.