Comparison of air and water chilling on fresh chicken quality

The chicken carcasses were transferred to a cooler after chilled by air or water.At 24 h post-mortem,physical and chemical characteristics of the chicken carcasses were compared between the two different chilling methods.The chilling rate was higher in the water chilling while lower in the air chilling.The carcasses absorbed moisture during water chilling but lost weight during air chilling.For the water chilling,the L value of breast meat,back skin,breast skin,shear force and cook loss of breast meat were higher;while the b value of breast meat,back skin,breast skin and the TBARS value of breast meat were higher for the air chilling.However,the pH24h,drip loss and a value had no significant differences between the two chilling methods.The results indicated that the qualities of fresh chicken chilled by water were better than that of chilled by air in terms of texture and appearance.