The Effect of Preslaughter Environmental Temperature in the Presence of Electrolyte Treatment on Turkey Meat Quality

Ninety torn turkeys at 26 weeks of age, given Dawelyte electrolyte at .10% level in the drinking water 3 days prior to slaughter, were equally randomized into three preslaughter temperature environments for 4 hr: 1) control chamber at 21 C, 2) heat chamber at 38 C, and 3) cold chamber at 5 C. The birds were then processed using standard processing procedures and kept at −29 C until needed for further analyses. Carcass yield, quality attributes, chemical composition, and color of the breast muscles were evaluated. Under the conditions of this study, preslaughter administering of electrolytes did not prevent changes in muscle characteristics after exposure to preslaughter stress. Holding birds at high temperature (38 C) prior to slaughter resulted in meat with a lower pH, water holding capacity, cooking yield, and a higher shear value. Meat color from heat stressed birds was also pale compared to the control or cold preslaughter treatments. A cool preslaughter environment seems to produce meat with better carcass quality characteristics. Chemical composition was not significantly affected by the short-term preslaughter environmental temperature stress.