Implications of white striping and wooden breast abnormalities on quality traits of raw and marinated chicken meat

• Published in: Animal (Cambridge, England) England), 2015-04, Vol.9 (4), p.728-734
• Main Authors: Mudalal, S., Lorenzi, M., Soglia, F., Cavani, C., Petracci, M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: abnormalities; Animals; area; breast meat; breast muscle; chicken breast; chicken meat; chickens; Chickens - physiology; Color; cooked foods; Cooking - methods; cooking quality; drip loss; filleting; fillets; hardness; marinating; Meat - analysis; Meat - standards; meat quality; Product quality, human health and well-being; raw meat; Research Article; texture; thickness; white striping; wooden breast
• ISSN: 1751-7311; 1751-732X; 1751-732X
• DOI: 10.1017/S175173111400295X

One of the consequences of intense genetic selection for growth of poultry is the recent appearance of abnormalities in chicken breast muscles, such as white striping (characterised by superficial white striations) and wooden breast (characterised by pale and bulged areas with substantial hardness). The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality traits of chicken fillets affected by white striping and wooden breast abnormalities. In two replications, 192 fillets were divided into the following four classes: normal (n=48; absence of any visual defects), white striping (n=48, presence of white striations), wooden breast (n=48; diffusely presence of hardened areas) and white striping/wooden breast (n=48; fillets affected by both abnormalities). Morphology, raw meat texture and technological properties were assessed in both unprocessed (pH, colour, drip loss, cooking loss and cooked meat shear force) and marinated meat (marinade uptake, purge loss, cooking loss and cooked meat shear force). Fillets affected by white striping, wooden breast or both abnormalities exhibited higher breast weights compared with normal fillets (305.5, 298.7, 318.3 and 244.7 g, respectively; P