Sensory implications of chicken meat spoilage in relation to microbial and physicochemical characteristics during refrigerated storage

Abstract

Consumer perception of chicken meat spoilage is linked to sensory changes of raw chicken during storage. The objective of this study was to characterise the sensory attributes of raw chicken meat and to establish the relationship with the microbial and physicochemical changes during refrigerated storage under aerobic packaging. Chicken legs were stored at 4 °C and microbiological, pH, colour and descriptive sensory analyses were conducted. Chicken meat stored for longer than 7 days was described as having negative sensory attributes, total viable counts higher than 8 log CFU/g and pH beyond 7. The chroma of chicken skin did not differentiate well chicken meat samples stored for different days, hence would be a poor indicator of spoilage. Odour attributes of chicken meat deteriorated at a faster rate than instrumental colour and appearance attributes and were highly correlated (r > 0.8) with microbial growth. In contrast, no correlations were found between instrumental colour (except for skin L*) and appearance attributes and microbial growth in chicken meat. The findings suggest that, to consumers, the smell of raw chicken meat would be a more reliable signal for microbial spoilage than appearance, which may correlate with the presence of spoilage bacteria.