Quality of Ice-Packed and of Frozen Chicken

OVER 65 percent of broiler chickens are currently packed and distributed as a fresh, ice-packed product. In order to increase shelf life of the product and for other obvious logistic and inventory advantages, the poultry processing industry would like to produce more frozen chicken. However, consumer reactions to frozen chicken, as determined by survey studies, have indicated a decided resistance toward purchasing the frozen product (Brant and Sanborn, 1963; Forsythe et al., 1963; Swanson and Richards, 1963; Smith, 1959; and Weidenhamer, 1958). In an earlier study from this laboratory (Winawer and May, 1964), consumers indicated a significant preference for the ice-packed half of a broiler over the frozen, thawed half of the same chicken. However, the method used to identify the samples rather than actual differences might have contributed to the results. This study was designed to determine if a taste panel could detect differences between ice-packed and frozen…