Effect of Aging Temperature on Broiler Breast Meat

In three experiments using a total of 102 broilers, effects were evaluated of post-mortem aging temperatures between 0 C and 40 C on chicken breast muscles, pectoralis (p.) major and p. minor. The first experiments analyzed the effects of temperature on muscles excised immediately post-mortem. Results of Experiment 1 suggested maximum sarcomere lengths at aging temperatures of 16 C for both muscles. However, differences between lengths observed at 0 C and 4 C were not significant for p. major, and at 0, 4, and 23 C for p. minor. Experiment 2 analyzed effects of 4 and 16-C aging temperatures and indicated that the rates of increase of R values (ratio of inosine to adenine nucleotides) were nearly equal at 4 C and 16 C when compared across each of the locations of p. major. Decreases in sarcomere lengths slowed at 16 C in anterior and middle sections of p. major, relative to lengths at 4 C. For the p. minor muscle, the increase of R values was more rapid at 16 C, whereas sarcomere shortening was slower in comparison with that observed at 4 C. In Experiment 3, an attempt was made to apply 4 C and 16-C aging temperatures to schemes of early deboning at 3 h and 4 h post-mortem. No significant effects were observed of these temperature conditionings on sarcomere lengths of the raw muscles or on shear values of the cooked meat. Furthermore, neither scheme resulted in values of p. major meat tenderness comparable with those resulting from aging the muscle intact on the carcass for 24 h.