Water Absorption and Retention by Cut Up Broiler Parts Chilled in Polyphosphate Solutions ,

IN recent years, with an almost universal practice of chilling poultry in ice and water mixtures, much interest has been shown in studying the water absorption properties of poultry. Many factors affect water absorption and the more important ones were summarized by Brant (1963) as water temperature, time of chilling, ice to water ratio, agitation, size of the bird, fat, skin thickness, and application of polyphosphates to the chilling water. Some parts of the broiler carcass were found to absorb more water than other parts. Kotula et al. (1960a) observed that carcasses with the necks intact absorbed more water than did carcasses which had the necks removed. Kotula et al. (1960b) reported that when the thigh area was opened during evisceration, there was an increase in water absorption. Klose et al. (1960) and Lentz and Rooke (1958) stated that water is trapped and loosely held in body cavities, under the…