Red Discoloration of Fully Cooked Chicken Products

Abstract

SUMMARY Internal red discoloration of fully cooked, bone-in chicken products is considered a quality defect because consumers perceive that the meat is undercooked and unsafe for consumption. Sporadic occurrences of discoloration seem to be widespread within the industry, but no data are availabletoadequatelyassesstheincidenceorseverityofthisproblem.Therefore,productstypically available to the consumer either directly from the supermarket or indirectly through a wholesaler were evaluated to determine the relative occurrence and severity of internal red discoloration. Commercially fully cooked breasts, thighs, and drums were objectively and subjectively evaluated for internal red discoloration with the following product types: fried chicken from a supermarket deli, rotisserie chicken from a supermarket deli, frozen fried chicken from a supermarket freezer case, and, frozen fried chicken available wholesale as a commodity item. Overall, 11% of products sampled would likely generate consumer complaints or rejection, as 10.6 and 0.4% were scored as extensively or severely discolored, respectively. Of the remaining products, 60.5% had little or no discoloration, and 28.5% showed slight to moderate discoloration. The fried deli product seemed to have less discoloration than the other products tested. Objectively, breasts were less discolored than thighs or drums, and discoloration in the thigh was redder than breast or drum discoloration. The discolored areas in each piece were both darker and redder than nondiscolored (normal) areas within each piece. Red discoloration seems to be a persistent problem at a relatively low level and varies among product types.