Identification of freshness of chicken-broiler meat according to developed express methods

Abstract

Market operators for the production and circulation of broiler meat should implement a traceability system and a HACCP system that will allow them to control their safety and quality during the production, storage, and sale cycle. For the work of state inspectors of veterinary medicine, new express methods of controlling chilled meat of broiler chickens to establish their freshness and shelf life due to compliance with sanitary and hygienic requirements at facilities for the production and circulation of poultry meat according to Nesler's color of the extract of poultry meat with Nesler's reagent and the optical density of meat-water extract with Nesler's reagent, which have reliability of 99.9 % in the tests. Studies have identified chilled broiler meat by freshness in determining the Nessler number and optical density of the color intensity of the meat-water extract and Nessler reagent by photometric method at 5, 6, 7, and 8 days of storage at 0–4 °C. It was determined that the Nessler number for the intensity of the yellow color of the extract from the meat of broiler chickens fresh from the breast and thigh for the use of Nessler's reagent on the fifth day was – 1.4–1.6 (olive-yellow color); the doubtful freshness of the breast and thigh for 6–7 days – 1.8–2.4 (light yellow color); stale from the breast and thigh for eight days – more than 2.4 (from intense yellow to orange). It was found that the optical density of the intensity of the olive-yellow color of the extract from chilled meat of fresh broiler chickens for five days at a temperature of 0–4 °C was: in the breast – 0.898 ± 0.060 Bel, in thighs – 1.057 ± 0.020 Bel; the yellow color of the extract from poultry meat of dubious degree for 6–7 days at a temperature of 0−4 °C: in the breast – 1.260 ± 0.004 Bel (P ≤ 0.01), in the thigh – 1.318 ± 0.006 Bel (P ≤ 0.001); the yellow-orange color of the extract from the meat of fresh poultry for eight days at a temperature of 0−4 °C – in the breast – 2.265 ± 0.020 Bel (P ≤ 0.001), in the thigh – 2.432 ± 0,012 Bel (P ≤ 0.001). Monitoring the freshness of meat of broiler chickens found that when sold in agri-food markets and supermarkets, respectively: fresh meat was – 74.14 and 66.67 %; questionable freshness – 17.24 and 21.67 %; stale – 8.62 and 11.66 %.