Effects of Microencapsulated Blend of Organic Acids and Essential Oils as a Feed Additive on Quality of Chicken Breast Meat

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Chicken meat is largely consumed around the world, with an increasing demand in recent years. Unfortunately, chicken meat is very susceptible to oxidative deterioration; therefore, poultry industries often use synthetic dietary additives to improve meat shelf-life. However, due to the public’s growing concern about the potential toxic effect of the synthetic additives, there is an increasing interest in natural antioxidant compounds. Among these, organic acids and essential oils could represent a favourable option to improve the characteristics of chicken meat. The aim of this study was to evaluate the dietary supplementation of organic acids (sorbic and citric) and essential oils (thymol and vanillin) on the quality and shelf-life of broiler meat. The additive was supplemented for the entire growing cycle at the level of 0.5% (as a feed additive). This dietary strategy led a reduction in intramuscular fat content and an overall improvement in fatty acid profile. Moreover, the dietary supplementation of organic acids and essential oils reduced the lipid oxidation in cooked meat, whereas minor changes were observed for colour and lipid stability and for microbial loads in raw meat. ABSTRACT: The present study aims to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation based on a blend of microencapsulated organic acids (sorbic and citric) and essential oils (thymol and vanillin) on chicken meat quality. A total of 420 male Ross 308 chicks were randomly assigned to two dietary treatments: the control group was fed with conventional diet (CON), while the other group received the control diet supplemented with 0.5% of a microencapsulated blend of organic acids and essential oils (AVI). In breast meat samples, intramuscular fat content and saturated/polyunsaturated fatty acids ratio were reduced by AVI supplementation (p < 0.05). Moreover, atherogenic (p < 0.01) and thrombogenic (p < 0.05) indices were lower in AVI than CON treatment. AVI raw meat showed a lower density of psychrotrophic bacteria (p < 0.05) at an initial time, and higher loads of enterococci after 4 days of refrigerated storage (p < 0.05). No contamination of Listeria spp., Campylobacter spp., and Clostridium spp. was found. TBARS values of the cooked meat were lower in the AVI treatment compared to CON (p < 0.01). Among colour parameters, a*, b* and C* values increased between 4 and 7 days of storage in AVI cooked meat (p < 0.05). Overall, organic acids and essential oils could improve the quality and shelf-life of poultry meat.