Soft‐boiled chicken is widely popular with its flavor and texture. In a traditional view, the edible quality of soft‐boiled chicken producing with hot‐fresh carcass (without any chilled procedure after evisceration) was better than that of chilled carcass. Hot‐fresh groups with 1, 2, or 4 hr and chilled groups with 24, 48, or 60 hr were used to clarify the view in this study. The results indicated that no significant difference in hardness, springiness, cohesiveness of texture profiles and b* value of skin color was observed between each group, although the highest L* value was obtained in hot‐fresh 4 hr group. Higher contents of succinic acid were found in chilled groups when compared to that of hot‐fresh groups, but there was no difference in lactic acid and pH values. Lower contents of adenosine 5′‐monophosphate (AMP), guanosine 5′‐monophosphate (GMP), inosine and hypoxanthine, and higher inosine‐5′‐monophosphate (IMP) (especially for hot‐fresh 1 hr) were observed in hot‐fresh groups. In addition, although no difference in umami amino acids and bitter amino acid was observed between each tested group, higher amounts of Asp, Met, Ile, Leu, Tyr, and Arg were observed in chilled groups, especially for chilled 60 hr. The finding indicated that the traditional view was lack of scientific evidence, and chilled carcass was suitable for soft‐boiled chicken, substituting for the hot‐fresh carcass.

Sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) has been widely used at 100 ppm concentration during poultry slaughter to reduce carcass microorganism loads. However, its use in poultry processing is restricted owing to the potential risks of disinfection by-products (DBPs) that can be produced by the reaction of NaClO with poultry meat components. This study assessed whether dichloroacetic acid (DCAA) and trichloroacetic acid (TCAA), as primary DBP representatives, were produced when NaClO was used as a disinfectant in various methods during broiler prechilling. Headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for the quantitative determination of DCAA and TCAA in 180 prechilling water samples and 30 broiler meat samples, obtained from large standard slaughterhouses equipped with an online monitoring system to control the NaClO concentration between 50 and 100 ppm, showed that neither DCAA nor TCAA were detected. In simulation assays, haloacetic acids (HAAs) were not detected when the concentration of the NaClO solution was less than 200 ppm with low frequency addition; however, more than 0.1 mg/L of DCAA and TCAA were detected on applying 200, 300, 400, 500, and 1000 ppm NaClO at high frequency. These findings indicated that adding high concentrations of NaClO and frequently adding low levels pose a potential risk of DBP formation. This investigation provides a basis for the establishment of food risk and the scientific use of NaClO in poultry processing, and contributes to the evaluation of DBPs in poultry slaughter. Practical Application: This study confirmed the occurrences of DCAA and TCAA during broiler chilling processing, indicating that formation of HAAs in simulation systems was correlated with NaClO levels and validated the absence of DCAA and TCAA with less than 200 ppm, providing a basic study for food safety standards and regulations on the disinfectants used in food processing.

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An amino acid analyzer was used to detect free amino acids (FAA) in Mimai Qu rice wines (SMW and DMW) and control wine samples (Chinese rice wine [CRW] and Japanese sake [JNS]). It was found that CRW had the highest total amino acid (TAA) content (~2814 mg/L), followed by SMW (~2509 mg/L) and DMW (~1474 mg/L), while JNS had the least (~917 mg/L). Amino acid ratio coefficient method (SRCAA), linear regression method, cluster analysis (CA) and principal component analysis (PCA) were used for evaluating the nutritional value of amino acids in wine samples, giving similar results. SMW had the highest nutritional value, followed by CRW and DMW and JNS.