The Effect of Salt Brine Chilling on Driploss of Ice-Packed Broiler Carcasses

Two trials were conducted to determine the effect of salt brine (5% NaCl) chilling of broiler carcasses on water pick-up and subsequent drip loss during storage at 4 C. There was no significant difference in percent water pick up of carcasses chilled for 24 hr in unagitated 2 C water or salt brine solution held at the same temperature. Salt brine-chilled carcasses lost significantly less water during the first 24 hr post-chill when compared with water-chilled carcasses. During the nine days of the study period, the rate of drip loss for the water-chilled carcasses was 0.23 petcentage points/day greater than that observed for the brine-chilled carcasses. Thus, the water chilled carcasses had lost 3% more drip than the brine chilled carcasses after nine days.