Effects of post-mortem time before chilling and chilling temperatures on water-holding capacity and texture of turkey breast muscle.

Two studies were conducted to determine 1) the effect of post-mortem time before chilling on hot boned prerigor breast muscle water-holding capacity (WHC), and 2) post-mortem temperature effect on sarcomere length and drip loss of uncooked breast, and shear force and WHC of turkey breast muscle that is hot-boned, marinated, and cooked. In Study 1, the turkey breast muscle was excised immediately after slaughter and chilled at 0 C. The effect of post-mortem time (15, 30, 45, 60, 90, and 120 min) before chilling on muscle pH, drip loss, and WHC (measured by homogenate cooking yield) was determined. In Study 2, hot boned prerigor breast slices were held at either 0 or 12 C and then at 3 h post-mortem stored at 2 C. Sarcomere length and drip loss of uncooked breast, and the shear force and WHC (measured by cooking yield) of cooked breast muscles with water, salt, and sodium tripolyphosphate were determined. Results indicated that pH on Day 1 post-mortem and cooking yield of water homogenates were not influenced by the post-mortem time before chilling. Drip losses increased as the post-mortem time before chilling was increased. Cooking yield of homogenate with water, salt, and sodium tripolyphosphate was decreased when breast muscle was chilled after 60 min post-mortem. Drip loss of breast was less at 0 C than at 12 C, but cooking yield and shear force were not affected by post-mortem chilling temperature. It was concluded that the post-mortem time before chilling has an influence on uncooked and cooked muscle WHC, but the differences found in uncooked muscle drip loss were not reflected in WHC or shear force of cooked muscle with water, salt, and sodium tripolyphosphate added.