Studying the Effects of Collagenase (Type 1) on the Collagen in Woody Breast Meat

SIMPLE SUMMARY: With the advent of fast-growing big broiler chickens with high feed conversion ratios, the poultry industry is facing some meat quality issues. Woody breast myopathy is one such meat quality issue that renders the breast meat tough to touch when raw and is described as chewy and crunchy after cooking. One of the major reasons for the texture modification is the excess of collagen, especially with a high degree of cross-linking, in the breast muscle. Therefore, a research project was undertaken to examine a method to degrade the collagen and improve the tenderness of the meat. We mixed an enzyme, collagenase Type I, into the ground woody breast meat to determine its impact on collagen. We found that collagenase Type I can convert the insoluble collagen into soluble collagen. The study will help the poultry industry to develop marinades with collagenase to improve the texture of woody breast meat and increase its consumer acceptability. ABSTRACT: Abnormal collagen infiltration in the Pectoralis major, breast muscle, of fast-growing big broilers has led to woody breast (WB) myopathy resulting in meat quality issues. Mechanisms to degrade the collagen were investigated to potentially improve WB texture. Freshly deboned WB fillets (n = 5 per trial; 3 trials) were ground and divided in to 25 g portions. Aqueous collagenase Type I solution (1 mL) from concentrations of 2.5, 5, and 10 mg/mL were incorporated in ground WB samples (n = 3 samples/treatment × 3 trials). Ground WB with 1 mL water acted as a control. All the samples were placed at 4 °C for 24 h and frozen at −80 °C. Control samples without any treatment or water addition (n = 3/trial) were frozen immediately upon grinding. Data collected on total (TC), soluble (SC), and insoluble collagen (IC) content was analyzed using one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s honestly significant difference (HSD) (p ≤ 0.05). Fresh WB fillets had TC, SC, and IC content of 19.5, 4.9, and 14.6 mg/g, respectively. The addition of collagenase decreased (p ≤ 0.05) the IC to 5.8 mg/g in the 10 mg/mL treatment after 24 h. Converting IC to SC using collagenase can potentially help the poultry industry to reduce WB toughness.