Incidence of broiler breast myopathies at 2 different ages and its impact on selected raw meat quality parameters

Abstract

White striping (WS) and woody breast (WB) are 2 poultry meat quality defects that affect the acceptance of raw breast fillets as well as properties of cooked and further processed products. The present study was intended to evaluate the incidence of these conditions in broilers at different ages and to compare the properties of fillets with different degrees of WS and WB. For this study, 1,920 birds were processed, at 6 and 9 wk of age, in a standard commercial inline processing system. After chilling, carcasses were deboned and butterfly fillets were collected and weighed. Individual fillets were scored for normal, moderate, severe, and very severe degrees of WS and WB, and for petechial hemorrhagic lesions (PHEM, 0 - no lesion to 2 - severe lesion). Representative fillets with NORM-WS/WB, SEV-WS, SEV-WB, and SEV-WS/WB were selected and stored at 4°C. After 24 h, fillet length, width, cranial height, and caudal height, as well as pH, color, and drip loss were recorded. There was an increase in incidence of severe and very severe WS and WB conditions at 9 wk compared to 6 wk of age. The relationship between fillet weight and the myopathies plateaued at 9 wk of age with more fillets showing a higher score. Mean PHEM scores were higher (P < 0.05) in SEV-WS, SEV-WB, and SEV-WS/WB compared to NORM-WS/WB birds, both at 6 and 9 weeks. NORM-WS/WB birds had lower (P < 0.05) live and breast weight, breast yield, and cranial and caudal heights, as well as b* value (yellowness) compared to SEV-WS/WB. NORM-WS/WB had lower (P < 0.05) pH while NORM-WS/WB and SEV-WS samples showed lower (P < 0.05) drip loss when compared to SEV-WB and SEV-WS/WB. The results from this study showed that the severe degrees of WS and WB are associated with heavier and older birds, and thicker breast fillets. Occurrence of severe degrees of WS and/or WB can affect various raw meat quality factors, mainly color and water holding capacity.

Wooden‐Breast, White Striping, and Spaghetti Meat: Causes, Consequences and Consumer Perception of Emerging Broiler Meat Abnormalities

“…Four categories can be attributed to WB (Papah et al., ; Petracci et al., ; Sihvo et al., ): mild (focally diffused and light firmness), moderate (focally diffused with extensive firmness of the breast), severe (>75% of the breast being extremely firm and with diffuse coverage) and extremely severe (firm breast). Although chicken breasts may present only symptoms from this myopathy, it is often reported to be associated with WS (Kuttappan et al., ; Soglia et al., ). It is important to highlight that, although WB is commonly detected by manual palpation of the breast, this method may not be fully effective.…”

“…In relation to the height of the pectoralis major muscle, chicken breasts affected by WS, WB, SM, WS/WB, and WS/SM had higher height in both the cranial and medial regions of the breast compared to those in normal chicken breasts (Baldi et al., ; Kuttappan et al., ; Mudalal et al., , ; Zambonelli et al., ). However, in relation to the height in the caudal region, the WS and WS/SM presented a similar dimension to the normal group, while the SM, WB, and WS/WB breasts had a larger dimension (Baldi et al., ; Kuttappan et al., ; Mudalal et al., ; Mudalal et al., ; Zambonelli et al., ). No relationship was observed between breast width and myopathies (Baldi et al., ; Mudalal et al., , ; Zambonelli et al., ), yet, a largest length in breasts was observed in WS, SM, and WS/SM affected muscles in comparison with normal breasts (Baldi et al., ; Mudalal et al., ).…”

“…There is a consensus on the impaired functionality of WB and WS and that such adverse condition is more intense at higher severity degrees of the myopathy (Tijare et al., ). Among the three muscle lesion types, WB displays particularly poor functionality which is manifested in low yields, impaired marinade uptake and reduced ability to hold water under both raw (increased drip loss) and heat treatment conditions (increased cooking loss) (Dalgaard et al., ; Dalle‐Zotte et al., ; Kuttappan et al., , Mudalal et al., ; Soglia et al., ). Bowker, Maxwell, Zhuang, and Adhikari () recently evaluated the performance of severe WB fillets during marination (0.75% NaCl/0.45 sodium phosphate) and oven‐cooking (78 °C) and found that the marinade uptake and subsequent retention was lower in WB samples than in the normal counterparts.…”

“…A low final pH (close to the isoelectric point of muscle proteins approximately 5.0) leads to muscles with poor WHC while muscles with high final pH display better abilities to hold water (Hamm, ). However, the ultimate pH of WB (Kuttappan et al., ) and breasts affected by WS (Petracci et al., ) and SM (Baldi et al., , ) is typically several decimals (0.2 to 0.4) higher than normal breast muscles and yet, their WHC is lower. The severe degeneration of the muscle tissue in these myopathies would explain the poor WHC and the lack of correspondence between this parameter and pH.…”

“…The overall appearance of the breasts affected by the myopathies reported in this review is clearly altered as compared to a normal breast muscle (Figure ) and that is a direct consequence of the histological hallmarks of each myopathy: presence of out‐bulging and pale areas of hardened consistency in WB, appearance of white striations of variable thickness parallel to the muscle fibers direction in WS, and the disintegration of the muscle tissue in fiber bundles in SM. Instrumental measurement of the color of WB typically results in elevated lightness ( L * ) (Dalle Zotte et al., ) and increased yellowness ( b * ) (Kuttappan et al., ) with this alterations being worsened at higher degrees of severity (Tasoniero, Cullere, Cecchinato, Puolanne, & Dalle Zotte, ). Discoloration may also be noticeable upon cooking as recently reported by Zhuang and Bowker () who found that the surface of cooked WB fillets was darker, redder, and more yellow than that of fillets without the WB condition.…”