Pale, soft, exudative (PSE) turkey meat is a growing problem for the industry of further processed poultry meat. The low pH condition due to rapid glycolysis while the body temperature is still high leads to protein denaturation, causing pale color and reduced water-holding capacity. This condition impacts product yield and quality. These studies were designed to estimate the incidence of PSE broiler meat in a commercial plant and to use response surface methodology to characterize the relationship between pH and lightness (at deboning and at 24 h postmortem), expressible moisture, drip loss, and cook loss. Pale fillets had significantly lower pH, greater L* values at 3 and 24 h postmortem, and higher expressible moisture, drip loss, and cook loss. The lower water-holding capacity of the pale fillets was characteristic of PSE meat. Additionally, L* values were measured on 3,554 boneless broiler breast fillets in a commercial processing line. By using the L* value range (>54) from the pale group of fillets as an indication of paleness, approximately 47% of the 3,554 fillets were pale and could potentially exhibit poor water-holding capacity. These results may not represent the entire industry but indicate that PSE chicken can represent a substantial proportion of commercially processed broiler meat.

Pale, soft, exudative (PSE) turkey meat is a growing problem for industry and has been associated with rapid postmortem pH decline and loss of protein functionality, similar to PSE pork. This study was designed to estimate the incidence of PSE meat in a commercial plant and use response surface methodology to characterize the relationship between pH, lightness (L* value), and water-holding capacity (WHC). One hundred thirty-four turkey breast fillets were selected from the processing line so that 67 had normal color (lightness), and the other 67 were more pale than normal. Fillets were analyzed at time of deboning (1.5 h postmortem) and at 24 h postmortem for color (L* value), pH, drip loss, expressible moisture, and temperature. Additionally, L* values were measured on 2,995 turkey breasts from the processing line to determine the commercial incidence of PSE meat based on color. The pale fillets had significantly lower pH, greater L* value, and less WHC but equal temperature when compared with the fillets with normal color. The L* value and pH were correlated with WHC as measured by expressible moisture, but L* value seems to have more predictive value. By using the L* value range (>53) from the pale-selected fillets as an indication of paleness, approximately 40% of the 2,995 fillets would exhibit poor WHC. These results suggest that PSE meat can represent a significant portion of commercially processed turkey breast meat and that the L* value measurement could be used to sort turkey meat so that PSE type meat could be used in specialized formulations.

The objectives of this study were to detect bacteria on restaurant menus, to determine the bacterial transfer from menus to consumers' hands and to determine the survival of bacteria on menu surfaces. Local restaurant menus were sampled at different periods of operation. The average total plate count (TPC) was 28 (0-210) cfu/15 cm 2 menu sampling area during "busy" periods and 15 (0-85) cfu/15 cm 2 menu sampling area during "less busy" periods. The staphylococcal count averaged 6 (0-83) cfu/15 cm 2 during busy periods and 2 (0-25) cfu/15 cm 2 menu sampling area during less busy periods. Escherichia coli was transferred to menus at 11.17% of the hand population with a high variability between subjects (10.45% standard deviation). Survival of bacteria in menus was 1.40% after 24 h and 1.34% after 48 h, respectively. Bacterial populations found on randomly sampled menus were low; however, bacteria survived and were transferred from menus to a consumer's hands. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSWhile many food-contact surfaces are routinely cleaned and sanitized to minimize the presence of contamination, some surfaces such as restaurant menus are not and thus may be a potential contamination risk. The current study revealed that in the relatively small sample size of menus examined, there were some that were contaminated. Furthermore, there was measurable transfer of bacteria present on menus to consumer's hands and bacteria survived on menus at least 2 days. Therefore, to reduce the chance of illness from menus that are touched by many different people, especially food service workers, menus may be considered to be included as part of a standard sanitation operating procedure.

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Response surface analysis (RSA) is used to show the effects of a range of heat pasteurization times and temperature combinations on several quality factors of liquid egg. The purpose of this paper is not to suggest the rigid processing time and temperature combinations to give maximum quality but to illustrate that RSA can be used as a tool to predict individual and multiple egg functional properties resulting from various processing conditions. The application of heat will change the quality and functional properties of the liquid egg. This paper describes the application of RSA to the changes in soluble protein, alpha-amylase, solids content, viscosity, and the height of cakes made with processed liquid whole egg (LWE). The Mallow's Cp statistic is used to determine the best model while minimizing the number of terms in the model. By using this method of choosing the model, the number of terms desired in the model can be first determined then the best fit can be determined from the possible models. The time and temperature combinations are in the ultra-high temperature range for eggs (30, 60, and 95 s each at 64, 68, and 72 C). The RSA may be used to optimize the quality and functionality of LWE while ensuring the safety of the product. This information can be used (with further testing) to maximize desirable and minimize undesirable product properties.