Qualitative Evaluation of Imported Frozen Chicken Thighs in Erbil Markets

Abstract

This paper presents an investigation of the quality traits of imported frozen chicken thighs that were available at the whole sale and retailed markets in Erbil, with the aim to evaluate their fitness to quality standards and their human consumption. For this purpose, three foreign trademarks (Pilgrim's, Qualiko, and Lades) of imported frozen chicken thighs (15 from each trademark) were collected. The label information were conducted for all samples. Different indicators were measured to compare the hygiene state of the frozen chicken thighs, these indicators referred to (thawing loss, cooking loss, water holding capacity and determination of myoglobin). The study reached the following results: There were significant differences (P<0.05) between samples of whole sale or retailed market. The results showed that the Lades and Qualiko trademarks were recorded the lowest thawing loss except for Pilgrim's mark which was upper in range according to the Iraqi Central Organization for Standardization and quality control. Although there were significant differences (P<0.05) between samples of whole sale and retailed market in the cooking loss and water holding capacity tests, but they were still in good quality. The results obtained of Determination of myoglobin were within the normal range, except for Qualiko mark which were lower in range.