Effect of wooden breast on postmortem changes in chicken meat

• Published in: Food chemistry 2020-06, Vol.315, p.126285-126285, Article 126285
• Main Authors: Hasegawa, Yasuhiro, Hara, Takayuki, Kawasaki, Takeshi, Yamada, Michi, Watanabe, Takafumi, Iwasaki, Tomohito
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Chickens; Connective Tissue; Endogenous protease activity; Meat - analysis; Microscopic observations; Muscle, Skeletal; Postmortem change; Postmortem Changes; Tenderness; Wooden breast
• ISSN: 0308-8146; 1873-7072
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2020.126285

•Wooden breast has a high mechanical strength even 5 days after slaughter.•Myofibrils weakening after slaughter hastens myofibrillar fragmentation in wooden breast.•Connective tissues in such breast were unchanged during postmortem aging till day 5.•The stiffness in wooden breast can be contributed to unchanged connective tissues. Wooden breast is a common problem in the poultry industry, occurring when broiler breast meat becomes rubber-like and extremely hard. Unclear points remain regarding the mechanical strength changes caused by post-mortem biochemical changes in wooden breasts. This study aimed to investigate this knowledge gap. We found endogenous protease activity to be high in wooden breasts and observed a 30 kDa fragment of troponin T (an indicator of postmortem tenderness) from day 1 postmortem. The amount of intramuscular connective tissue in wooden breasts was greater than that of normal breast meat, particularly in the perimysium. The intramuscular connective tissue structure and quantity significantly affect the mechanical strength of meat. It became clear that the wooden breasts are much more mechanically stronger than normal breasts at postmortem day 5 because the large amount of intramuscular connective tissue in the wooden breasts has hardly changed even 5 days postmortem.