Qualitative and Quantitative Comparisons of Texture Characteristics between Broiler and Jidori-niku, Japanese Indigenous Chicken Meat, Assessed by a Trained Panel

The texture of jidori-niku (Japanese indigenous native chicken meat) was characterized and compared with those of Chunky broiler chicken meat. Experiment 1: A qualitative sensory test using jidori-niku and broiler breast (pectoralis major, PM), thigh (biceps femoris, BF) and sasami (deep pectoral) meat cooked to the end-point temperature 75°C by steam-heating was administered to a trained sensory panel (n=16–17) for the selection of descriptive texture items from ISO5492 texture words. By the correspondence analysis, the characteristics of ‘chewiness,’ ‘hardness’ and ‘springiness’ were found to be different between jidori-niku and broiler: they likely characterize jidori-niku texture. Experiment 2: Texture characteristics in the three above-mentioned muscles in jidori-niku and broiler were compared quantitatively using the three above-mentioned texture items by the trained sensory panel. Sensory chewiness and hardness were the highest in the broiler PM and second highest in the jidori-niku BF, whereas sensory springiness was the highest in the jidori-niku BF. These results suggest that jidori-niku-like texture was characterized as a springy texture as compared to broiler meat.