The cytochrome c content of various poultry meats

Abstract

The cytochrome c content and total haem pigments in the breast and thigh meat of broiler chickens, hens out of lay, turkeys, geese, duckling (Peking), and muscovy ducks were determined. The levels of cytochrome c in the breast and thigh meat were: for chicken 11.4 and 35.5; for hens 14.0 and 84.2; for turkeys 13.1 and 47.4; for geese 141.0 and 107.8; for duckling 111.2 and 149.9 and for muscovy ducks 81.5 and 97.3yg per g of tissue, respectively. The correlation coefficient between cytochrome c and total haem pigments concentration was r=0.98 for breast, and r=0.85 for thigh meat. The authors postulate that the cytochrome c may play a noticeable role in the colour of fresh and processed poultry meat, but further investigations are needed to confirm this.

Heme Pigment Levels in Chicken Broilers Chilled in Ice Slush and Air

“…Dilution of pigments may be a factor, although Froning et al (1960) reported that moisture content of chicken broiler meat was not influenced by chilling, because much of the additional moisture was lost through the drip. There was also a significant difference (P<05) in cytochrome c levels among die breast, thigh, and gizzard, which was similar to the results of Pikul et al (1986).…”

“…There was almost twice as much cytochrome c in the air-chilled birds compared with the iceslush-chilled birds. The cytochrome c concentrations present in the breast and thigh muscle of the ice-slush-chilled birds were very similar to uiose reported by Pikul et al (1986), who observed 11.4 and 35.5 ug/g, respectively, in the breast and thigh muscle of chicken broilers. To partially explain the difference in cytochrome c concentrations between chilling methods, it was hypothesized that the mitochondria in which cytochrome c is found, may have been disrupted during the ice-slush chilling, which may have caused a release of cytochrome c from the cell.…”

“…Cytochrome c concentration in the various muscles was determined using the method of Pikul et al (1986). These measurements were analyzed in duplicate on the breast muscle, thigh muscle, and the gizzard.…”

“…Poultry meat color is influenced by age, sex, and strain (Froning et al, 1968a), diet of the bird (Froning et al, 1969a), intramuscular fat (Janky and Froning, 1973), moisture content of the meat (Froning et al, 1968b), preslaughter factors (Froning et al, 1969b;Ngoka et al, 1982), processing variables, and the level of heme pigments present in the meat (Lawrie, 1966;Pikul et al, 1986;Cornforth et al, 1986;Ann and Maurer, 1989).…”

Characterization of the Residual Pink Color in Cooked Turkey Breast and Pork Loin

“…The amount of hemoproteins in turkey significantly increased as age of the bird increased and Psoas major was a much redder muscle compared to the Longissimus dorsi. On a wet basis, the mean content of myoglobin appeared higher than values given by Froning et al (1968) andLawrie (1974) but were comparable to those reported by other investigators (Pikul et al, 1986;Janicki et al, 1967). As Pikul et al (1986) stated, freezing meat samples before cornminuting and using phosphate buffer instead of water were conditions which significantly improved extractability of heme pigments.…”