Influence of Polyphosphates in Chilling Water on Quality of Poultry Meat

INTRODUCTION POLYPHOSPHATES have a well established position as a beneficial adjunct to cured meat products. The straight chain phosphates, of which pyrophosphates and tripolyphosphates are the most commonly used, are considered to exert their effects on sausages and hams through their complexing, dispersing, stabilizing, and peptizing actions. The acceptance of polyphosphates in foods has been aided, no doubt, by recognition of their natural occurrence in freshly slaughtered meat, in the form of adenosine triphosphate and diphosphate. A natural extension of established uses is the proposed addition of polyphosphates to the chilling water for ready-to-cook poultry, or the addition of polyphosphates in subsequent steps of the manufacture of poultry meat into pre-cooked products. Qualities that have been suggested as benefiting from polyphosphate addition include flavor, flavor stability, tenderness, juiciness, and cooking shrink. The present study represents an evaluation under a limited number of processing conditions of the effect of commercial and…