Differentiating Breast Myopathies through Color and Texture Analyses in Broiler

Abstract

Wooden breast (WB), white striping (WS) and spaghetti meat (SM) are breast myopathies of the Pectoralis major that greatly affect meat quality in broilers. To differentiate color and texture characteristics with instrumental methods, some of them applied for the first time in this species, 300 carcasses were randomly chosen from an abattoir from five different flocks from the same farm, at a rate of 60 carcasses from each flock. Twenty-four hours after slaughter, both side breasts were dissected, and yields calculated. Color was measured on the surface of the breast with a spectrocolorimeter and reflectance values obtained. Texture was measured on raw meat with a modified compression test that hinders the fiber from expanding transversally and a texture profile analysis (TPA) and also on cooked meat with a Warner–Bratzler shear and a TPA. Color differs between severity degrees, increasing redness (from −1.77 to −1.32 in WB) and, especially, yellowness (from 5.00 to 6.73 in WS) and chroma (from 5.75 to 7.22 in SM) with the severity of the myopathy. The subtraction R630 minus R580 was found to be a useful index to differentiate breast myopathies degrees. The modified compression test can be considered an effective tool to assess the hardness of different structures in each myopathy. Texture differences in the myopathies are better assessed in raw than in cooked meat.

Spaghetti Meat Abnormality in Broilers: Current Understanding and Future Research Directions

“…As concern mineral profile, a study carried out by Tasoniero et al (2020) reported greater calcium and sodium levels in SM samples if compared to unaffected ones, speculating a possible connection between cation homeostasis disturbances and the appearance of pathological mechanisms leading to cell injury development. Intriguingly, the analysis of the available literature highlighted that SM samples possess analogous amounts of total and soluble collagen of unaffected breasts (Baldi et al, 2018;Campo et al, 2020;Tasoniero et al, 2020). On the other hand, Baldi et al (2019) found lower hydroxylysylpyridinoline contents in muscles affected by SM, suggesting a feeble collagen cross-linking (i.e., presence of immature collagen) and corroborating what found from previous histological observations (see section "Histological traits").…”

“…However, the growing consumers' demand for thin-sliced chicken breast meat has made the occurrence of SM particularly challenging for the processing industry since, being SM often detectable only after the slicing process, the amount of downgraded/discarded meat could be even exacerbated. Thus, being the in-line detection of abnormal meat a relevant matter especially for the meat packing plants, Morey et al (2020) recently proposed the feasibility of bioelectrical impedance analysis to identify SM breasts, while Campo et al (2020) suggested the analysis of color reflectance as a possible tool to detect those breasts affected by any degree of WS and SM in the processing line. Aside from this, it is noteworthy to mention that SM myopathy cannot be noticed in the living animal, contrarily to WB condition whose presence can be detected by palpating the breast of the live bird and lifting up its wings to assess the ability to achieve back-to-back wing contact (Hosotani et al, 2020).…”

Serum Creatine Kinase as a Biomarker to Predict Wooden Breast in vivo for Chicken Breeding

“…Thus, there is still need for an objective and fast method to quantify the meat defects. Previous research found that the compression test can be an objective and effective tool to identify and determine the severity of WB ( Mudalal et al, 2015 ; Soglia et al, 2017 ; Sun et al, 2018 ; Campo et al, 2020 ). In this study, despite no severe WB and WS, compression force increased significantly with the increase in WB and WS scores.…”

Effects of Guanidinoacetic Acid Supplementation on Productive Performance, Pectoral Myopathies, and Meat Quality of Broiler Chickens

“…Both WS and WB have been reported to affect the water-holding capacity of meat, resulting in higher drip loss and cooking loss, and lower marinade absorption [ 7 , 8 , 9 ]. Moreover, the severity of WB and WS corresponded to higher pH and also higher lightness, redness and yellowness [ 10 ]. In addition, Del Campo et al [ 10 ] reported that the hardness of raw meat increased with the severity of WB.…”

“…Moreover, the severity of WB and WS corresponded to higher pH and also higher lightness, redness and yellowness [ 10 ]. In addition, Del Campo et al [ 10 ] reported that the hardness of raw meat increased with the severity of WB.…”