Effect of postchill aging and sodium tripolyphosphate on moisture binding properties, color, and Warner-Bratzler shear values of chicken breast meat

The objective of this study was to assess the effects of treating chicken breast forequarters with sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP) after various postchill storage times on meat quality. Sixty-four commercially reared broilers (two replicates of 32 birds each) were slaughtered and chilled, and then the forequarters (split breasts with spine and ribs) were harvested and aged for 0, 120, 180, or 240 min postchill. After each aging period, one forequarter from each of 16 birds was marinated with a NaCl solution and the opposite forequarter was marinated with the same NaCl solution containing STPP. The quarters were then cooked and the following traits measured: marinade absorption, cooking loss, objective color values, and Warner-Bratzler shear values. As aging time prior to marination increased, cooking loss and redness of the cooked meat decreased, but marinade absorption and the color values were unaffected. The STPP treatment increased marinade absorption, decreased cooking losses, and decreased cooked meat redness (P < 0.05). Shear values decreased with aging time for both the control and STPP-treated breast meat. When the STPP treatment was applied immediately after carcass chilling, the STPP-treated meat exhibited shear values more than 60% greater than those of the controls (9.14 and 5.69 kg, respectively). Results indicate that time postchill at which further processed products are treated with STPP can have a significant effect on quality, especially cooked product texture.