Meat quality attributes associated with woody breast and effect of location and freezing on breast fillet

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Woody breast (WB) is a major myopathy in broilers characterized by hardness of the breast fillet and can be evaluated by human palpation with a severity scale of 0 (normal) to 3 (severe). The objective of this study was to determine fillet dimensions and meat quality factors that are associated with WB scores that may potentially be used for sorting purposes. A total of 206 broiler breast fillets (deboned at 3 h postmortem) were collected and scored for WB.Thickness and length (overall, cranial, caudal, and keel regions) of the Pectoralis major (whole butterfly) were measured with a caliper. Compression force (CF), pH, and color were measured. The right side of the butterfly fillet was frozen at −20°C for 48 h and thawed for 24 h, and then CF was measured along with cook loss, Meullenet-Owens Razor Shear, and blunt Meullenet-Owens Razor Shear. Pearson correlation coefficients and nominal logistic regression were determined.Measurement responses were compared for 4 categories of WB. The keel length measurement on the breast showed no difference (P > 0.05). However, the thickness was moderately correlated with WB score (r = 0.67) and could differentiate between the scores. In addition, CF of right side was higher than left side of fillets (P < 0.05). Freezing/storage significantly decreased (P < 0.05) CF of thawed fillets compared to chilled (nonfrozen) fillets. Cook loss increased (P < 0.05) as severity for WB increased. Peak counts for Meullenet-Owens Razor Shear and blunt Meullenet-Owens Razor Shear were higher (P < 0.05) for the severe compared to the lower levels of WB severity. In conclusion, meat quality differences were evident among the WB categories, differences in CF were observed between right and left fillets, and freezing/storage decreased hardness of fillets. Breast fillet dimensions along with L* value may potentially be used to identify WB, and this model of prediction of WB could be used in the industry to select the different WB categories in the development of sorting methods.