Effect of Pre-Blended Phosphates on the Freezing Quality Characteristics of Ground Woody Breast Meat Compared to Normal Meat

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Woody breast (WB) myopathy is a major meat quality issue facing the global poultry industry. The WB affected meat can be ground, frozen, and utilized for further processed poultry products as needed. Freezing and thawing of WB meat may affect the functional properties of myofibrillar proteins such as lower water holding capacity and gelation. We found that pre-blended phosphate can increase the functionality of freshly ground WB meat and maintain it after freezing. We have demonstrated that the addition of phosphates can help the utilization of ground woody breast meat even after frozen storage. ABSTRACT: Woody breast (WB) myopathy affected meat has a tough texture, higher cook loss, and decreased water holding capacity (WHC), and thus lower consumer acceptability. The WB meat can be ground and further converted into further processed products or frozen, stored, and shipped to further processors. Freezing and thawing of ground WB meat may further affect the quality of WB meat products. Hence, research is required to determine the effect of pre-blended phosphates on the quality of ground WB meat as well as its cryoprotective effect during frozen storage. The objective of this experiment was to investigate the effect of pre-blended phosphate levels on meat quality in WB and normal breast (NB) fillets before and after freezing. NB fillets and severely affected WB fillets were procured from a local commercial processor. The meat was separated into various treatment groups according to the sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP) inclusion levels (0, 0.25, and 0.5% w/w). The meat was ground with respective phosphate treatments and subdivided into vacuum-sealed bags (n = 240; 1 kg each). Half of the bags (n = 120) from each treatment were taken for meat quality analysis, while the other bags were placed in a freezer (−18 °C) for 6 days. Fresh samples were analyzed within 6–8 h while the frozen samples were thawed for 18 h at 4°C prior to analysis. Samples (n = 10) were analyzed for gel strength, pH, color (L* a* b*), proximate composition, and randomly selected samples (n = 5) were analyzed for aerobic plate count (APC). Experiments were repeated in two separate replications and the data was analyzed using the Proc Glimmix model procedure in SAS (v. 9.4) (Cary, NC, USA) with LSMeans Separation at p ≤ 0.05. The gel strength (g) of the fresh ground NB meat (883.7 g) was higher than the gel strength of woody meat (720.8 g) with 0% phosphate (p ≤ 0.05). Addition of phosphate (0.25 and 0.5%) significantly increased the gel strength of fresh woody meat but it was significantly lower than NB meat added with 0.25 and 0.5% phosphate treatment. After freezing, ground NB meat samples with 0.25 and 0.5% phosphate had higher gel strength compared to fresh and frozen ground WB meat (p ≤ 0.05). Pre-blended STPP raised the pH in all treatments (p < 0.05). Treatments did not have any clear impact on APC of ground WB or NB meat. Addition of pre-blended sodium tripolyphosphate increases the functionality of fresh and frozen ground WB meat, as well as NB meat.