Protein oxidation and subsequent changes in chicken breast and thigh meats during long-term frozen storage

Eda Demirok Soncu

doi:10.23986/afsci.97338

Abstract

In this study, protein oxidation and subsequent changes were evaluated during the long-term frozen storage of chicken meat cuts. Boneless and skinless chicken breast and thigh meat cuts were packaged, frozen, and stored at −18 °C for 6 months, whereas physicochemical analysis and electrophoretic protein profile were evaluated every 1 month. In breast and thigh meats, carbonyl content was noted to increase, whereas sulphydryl content decreased during frozen storage (p<0.05). A significant decrease in protein solubility and water holding capacity (p<0.05) was also determined due to denaturation and aggregation of proteins as a result of protein oxidation. Myofibrillar proteins, particularly myosin heavy chain, were identified to be more susceptible to oxidation although no notable changes were determined in sarcoplasmic protein pattern. In general, significant proteolytic changes were particularly noted from the third month of storage onward. This could be a useful finding in order to make a decision for shelf life and thus minimize undesirable quality changes in chicken meats. Additionally, strong correlations were noted between the examined quality parameters.

Highlights

Chicken meat has been identified to play a key role in human nutrition due to its higher protein content and other valuable nutrients (Adeyemi et al 2014)
The routine DNPH method is generally used for the quantification of carbonyl compounds in meats, and our results have been summarized in Tables 1 and 2 for chicken breast and chicken thigh meats, respectively
Consistent with our results, in previous studies, it was reported that frozen storage induced carbonyl formation in turkey breast meat (Chan et al 2011), fish (Lund et al 2011), pork, beef, and chicken meat patties (Utrera and Estévez 2013, Utrera et al 2014)

Summary

Introduction

Chicken meat has been identified to play a key role in human nutrition due to its higher protein content and other valuable nutrients (Adeyemi et al 2014). Its annual production growth has been reported to be at 3.06 ton for 2018, and that for 2019, 2020, and 2021, it was estimated to be at 2.15, 1.79, and 1.56 ton, respectively (OECD/FAO 2018) Along with this higher production rate, freezing has been identified as the most common and efficient way to protect the quality of the meat, especially when it is yet to be consumed or processed (Alarcon-Rojo and Janacua-Vidales 2010, Adeyemi et al 2014). As for the third stage, formation of secondary lipid oxidation products, varying amounts of thaw loss, surface microbial growth, and loss of nutritional components are the negative impacts of thawing on the quality of frozen meat products (Alarcon-Rojo and JanacuaVidales 2010, Leygonie et al 2012)

Methods

Results

Conclusion