Abstract
Pale, soft, exudative (PSE) turkey meat is a growing problem for the further processed poultry meat industry. The low pH condition due to rapid glycolysis while the body temperature is still high leads to protein denaturation, which causes pale color and reduced water hold capacity. These conditions may impact the ability of the muscle to absorb or retain a marinade solution. These studies were designed to estimate the incidence of PSE broiler meat in a commercial plant and use response surface methodology to characterize the relationship between pH and lightness (L* value) at deboning and at 24 h postmortem, expressible moisture, drip loss, and cook loss. In addition, characteristics of pale and normal fillets were evaluated after marination in sodium chloride and sodium tripolyphosphate brines at pH 9 and pH 11 to determine if lost protein functionality could be restored. The pale fillets had significantly lower pH, greater L* values at both 3 and 24 h postmortem, and higher expressible moisture, drip loss, and cook loss. The pale fillets exhibited poor water holding capacity, a characteristic of PSE meat. Additionally, L* values were measured on 3554 boneless broiler breast fillets in a commercial processing line. Using the L* value range (>54) from the pale fillets as an indication of paleness, approximately 37% of the 3554 fillets were in this pale range and could potentially exhibit poor water holding capacity. Marinade (pH 9) uptake and drip losses were similar in pale and normal fillets, but cook loss from pale fillets was greater than that of the normal fillets. Marinade solution at pH 11 showed no difference in pH or cook loss between pale and normal fillets. These results indicate that PSE chicken can represent a large proportion of commercially processed broiler meat and that the marination techniques used in this study cannot reverse this condition.
Woelfel, Renee Lashelle (2000). The characterization and incidence of pale, soft, and exudative broiler meat and the influence of marination. Master's thesis, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /ETD -TAMU -2000 -THESIS -W54.