Changes in tenderness, color, and water holding capacity of broiler breast meat during postdeboning aging

The impact of postharvest aging on the tenderness, color, water holding capacity, and appearance of broiler breast fillets after deboning was investigated. A total of 360 broilers were processed and deboned at either 1.5-, 3-, or 6-h postmortem (PM) and aged at 4 +/- 1 degrees C for up to 6 d. Tenderness was predicted by the Meullenet-Owens razor shear. Drip loss, cook loss, color, and muscle-shape profiles were also evaluated during the 6-d aging duration. Deboned fillets were in the tenderness range corresponding to "neither tough nor tender" for the first 2 d of aging and changed into "slightly tender" after 3 d of aging according to the instrument-tenderness perception equivalent scale. Tenderization due to postdeboning aging seemed to be more pronounced for fillets deboned in a prerigor state (that is, 1.5- and 3-h PM). Over the aging period, tenderness improved by 6.9 and 7.4 percentage points for the 1.5- and 3-h PM treatments, respectively, while those fillets deboned in a postrigor state (6-h PM) exhibited no significant difference in tenderness. Drip and cook loss of fillets consistently increased over the aging period. The color of fillets tended to become less red and more yellow during aging although there was no significant difference in L*. Overall, the tenderizing effects of deboned broiler breast fillets during the storage of 6 d were minimal but seemed to be affected by fillet height and length as determined through analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and K-means clustering analysis. Thicker and tougher fillets were more susceptible to the tenderizing effects during postdeboning aging.