The measurement of pH in raw and frozen turkey Pectoralis superficialis muscle

The objective of this study was to validate a rapid method for muscle pH as sessment. Early pH is a good indicator of turkey breast meat quality. The s tabilisation of pH can be obtained by homogenising fresh muscle in iodoacet ate, but it is time consuming and not appropriate to the rate of poultry sl aughter line. To reduce the time required for pH assessment, we compared di fferent methods (homogenisation in iodoacetate of fresh (reference method), frozen and freeze-dried samples, direct measurement in tissue). Freezing t he samples in liquid nitrogen before homogenisation in iodoacetate buffer c ould be substituted to the reference method for the measurement of pH at 3 and/or 20 min post mortem. For ultimate pH, however, the relationships were not good enough to substitute a new procedure to the reference method. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.