Effects of fillet weight on sensory descriptive flavor and texture profiles of broiler breast meat

Abstract

Four replications were conducted to compare sensory descriptive profiles of cooked boneless skinless chicken breast categorized by fillet (pectoralis major) weight or size. In each replication, 20 heavy fillets, 20 medium fillets, and 20 light fillets (deboned at 6-8 h postmortem) were obtained from a commercial processing plant. Fillets were trimmed and weighed before chosen for each of 3 size categories based on their weight as follows: light, average weight 112 g; medium, average weight 153 g; and heavy, average weight 204 g. Descriptive sensory texture and flavor attributes were measured after the frozen samples were thawed for 24 h at a refrigerated temperature (2°C) and cooked to an endpoint temperature of 78°C. Sensory evaluations were performed by trained descriptive panelists using 0 to 15 universal intensity scales for 8 texture and 10 flavor attributes. Our results show that there were differences (P < 0.05) in intensity scores of sensory descriptive texture and flavor attributes cohesiveness, hardness, juiciness, cardboardy, and sourness, among the 3 weight categories. The average cohesiveness, hardness, and sourness scores of the heavy and light fillets were higher than the medium fillets. The juiciness score of the heavy fillets was higher than that of the light fillets, and the cardboardy score of the light fillets was higher than those of the medium and heavy fillets. The juiciness score of the medium fillets did not differ from that of either the light or heavy fillets, and there was no difference for cardboardy scores between the medium and heavy fillets. These results indicate that fillet weight or size in the range (95-230 g) assessed in this study may influence sensory descriptive flavor and texture profiles of cooked broiler breast fillets deboned 6 to 8 h postmortem. Current genetic selection of broiler lines based on growth rate and feed efficiency may sacrifice breast meat quality. However, it remains to be determined if the differences in the sensory descriptive evaluation can be perceived by consumers.