Breast meat quality and consumer sensory properties of broiler carcasses chilled by water, air, or evaporative air

Three poultry chilling methods, namely, water chilling (WC), air chilling (AC), and evaporative air chilling (EAC), were compared to evaluate their effects on broiler breast meat quality and consumer sensory characteristics. A total of 189 birds were processed with 1 of the 3 chilling methods. One-third of the birds were hard scalded (57.7°C, 120 s) and subjected to WC (an ice slurry immersion at 0°C). The remaining birds were soft scalded (50°C, 220 s) and randomly assigned to either AC (blowing air, 1.0 m/s) or EAC (blowing air plus each carcass sprayed with 0.5 L of 0.4°C water) in a chilling room (0.9 ± 0.4°C). Water chilling reduced the carcass temperature most efficiently (57 min), whereas AC and EAC were the least (125 min) and intermediate (93 min) in efficiency, respectively. No significant difference was found among the chilling methods in moisture content, cooking yield, and shear force of deskinned breast fillets stored overnight. However, the pH (5.6) of 24-h stored fillets was higher in WC fillets than in AC (5.5) and EAC (5.5) fillets. For the surface color of skinless breasts, WC carcasses showed a higher Commission Internationale de l'Éclairage (CIE) L* value than AC or EAC carcasses, whereas AC carcasses exhibited more redness (higher CIE a*) and yellowness (higher CIE b*) than the other 2 chilling methods. When raw breast meat was made into cooked gels, no significant difference was observed in cooking loss, moisture content, shear stress, and shear strain, regardless of the chilling method. In consumer sensory evaluations, AC breasts had a higher juiciness score than did WC and EAC breasts, but no significant difference was found for flavor, texture, and overall acceptability.