THE EFFECTS OF POULTRY MEAT CLASS, SODIUM CHLORIDE AND PHOSPHATES ON PH, COOKED YIELDS AND WATER HOLDING CAPACITY

EMILY JILL FURUMOTO, Purdue University

Abstract

The effects of meat class, NaCl and polyphosphates (PP) were studied in chicken and turkey muscles and myofibrils. Meat class was defined as either breast, thigh or drumstick. For Study A four levels of salt treatments were used: control, no added salts; 1.5% NaCl; 0.45% PP; and 1.5% NaCl/0.45% PP. Cooked yield was determined by drained weight (g)/initial weight (g). Water binding capacity (WBC) was determined by supernatant weight (g)/initial weight (g). Analysis of variance and Newman-Keuls testing of the means revealed the following differences. Salt treatments generally increased pH values, increased yields and improved WBC compared to control muscle samples of chicken and turkey. With myofibrillar protein samples, phosphates increased the pH. The effects of PP on cooked yields and WBC were variable and confounded with the methodology. In both chicken and turkey muscles, breast meat exhibited greater cooked yields and poorer WBC than dark meat muscles. Lower pH values were associated with greater cooked yields and low WBC. In Study B, salt levels were altered slightly {2.0% NaCl, 0.6% tetrasodium polyphosphate (TPP)}. Levels were based upon the amount of water in the sample. Meat class categories remained the same. Cooked yields and pH were determined. Water holding capacity (WHC) was determined by water in pellet (g)/protein in pellet (g). The total soluble protein in the supernatants was obtained. Trends for Study B were similar to Study A when the effects by salt treatment were compared for poultry muscle samples. The addition of NaCl and TPP increased pH, cooked yields and WHC. Meat type affected chicken and turkey muscle samples. Breast muscles had lower pH values, lower WHC but higher cooked yields than either thigh or drumstick. The results for myofibrillar samples were not consistant with the results for poultry muscles. NaCl depressed the pH of myofibrillar samples while TPP increased the pH. WHC did not increase for all treatments with the addition of salts. The general trend for cooked yields was to increase with salt addition. The results for chicken breast myofibrils replicated results from muscle samples and had greater yields and lower WHC. In turkey myofibrils, yield and WHC were reported in the following order, breast > thigh > drumstick. Few correlations among pH, WHC and yield were significant for any specie or muscle source. Total soluble protein increased in the presence of salts and affected myofibrillar and muscle meat types differently.

Degree

Ph.D.

Subject Area

Food science

COinS