SUMMARY
Fifty‐four Beltsville small white male turkeys were studied either fresh‐unfrozen or frozen‐stored for 5 and 10 months. Samples of raw muscle were removed for protein analysis; the turkeys were then roasted at 325°F to end‐points of 165, 17.5, and 185°F in the thigh muscles and eating quality was evaluated.
Quantitative changes in muscle proteins as separated from extracts made with KCl‐borate buffer or with de‐ionized water were not marked. There was a decrease in actomyosin nitrogen of pectoralis major and some indication of proteolytic Changes. The magnitude of these changes in turkey muscles stored up to 10 months was not expected to alter eating quality as much as the longer cooking times required to reach the end‐point temperatures when cooking frozen‐stored turkeys.
Moisture losses were higher, and cooked thigh muscles were more tender and mealy from frozen‐stored than fresh turkeys. Cooked pectoralis major muscles required more force to shear after 5 months storage than at either 0 (fresh‐unfrozen) or 10 months storage. There was some indication that an undesirable flavor developed in thigh meat of turkeys stored 10 months.
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