Sensory and objective characteristics of broiler meat from commercial broilers fed rendered whole-hen meal

The objective of the study was to determine sensory and objective characteristics of chicken breast and thigh meat from commercial broilers fed rendered whole-hen meal (RHM), produced from commercial laying hen mortality losses. Breast and thigh muscles from 90 6-wk-old straight-run broilers fed starter and grower diets consisting of either 0, 8, or 12% RHM, were evaluated for sensory characteristics, instrumental texture and compositional profiles. The RHM treatments had no adverse effects (P > 0.05) on juiciness, chicken flavor intensity, tenderness, or compositional profiles for the breast or thigh meat. Off-flavor scores for all treatments were above the threshold value, indicating that the RHM imparted no off-flavors to the breast and thigh meat. Warner-Bratzler shear measurements were similar (P > 0.05) for breast meat from broilers in all treatments. No shear measurements were conducted for the thigh meat. It was concluded that RHM can be incorporated into the diets of chicks at levels of up to 12% without causing objectionable sensory characteristics in the cooked broiler meat.