Broiler chicken PSE (Pale, Soft, Exudative) meat and water release during chicken carcass thawing and brazilian legislation

The objective of this work was to investigate the relationship between poultry PSE meat and water loss of frozen chicken carcass in two experiments. The first experiment was carried out in commercial abattoir. Poultry carcass were classified as PSE meat (n=59) (pH <5.8) and control samples (n=55) (pH >5.8). Water absorption and drip test were performed according to the Brazilian legislation methodologies. The second experiment was carried out with commercial whole five brands frozen carcasses purchased from the local supermarkets (n=30) and analyzed for pH, water holding capacity (WHC) and drip test. PSE poultry meats absorbed 3.59% of water during the processing similar to the control samples; however, released 0.38% more water during thawing of the carcasses. From these five brands evaluated, three presented drip values above 6.0%. The highest drip value was showed by the brand sample that had pH and WHC values characteristics of PSE meat. It could be postulated that PSE meat phenomenon promoted more water release during thawing leading to a misinterpretation in relation to the Brazilian legislation for water carcass liberation during thawing.

Commercial preslaughter blue light ambience for controlling broiler stress and meat qualities

The objective of this work was to study the effect of blue light diffuser on the broiler stress control by measuring the occurrence of PSE meat just before slaughtering. Birds were divided into the following two groups before slaughter at the point of being hung on shackles: broiler group under low intensity blue light ambience (475, 17-20 lx) and control group under white light (550-650nm, 321-332 lx). Birds' stressful conditions were measured by the occurrence of PSE meat. Breast fillets were classified as PSE meat based on pH (<5.8) and lightness (L*> 53.0). The fillet samples in the control group had the following characteristics: pHu=5.77, L* = 54.26 and b*= 6.27. The fillet samples from birds under blue light ambience had the following characteristics: pHu=5.81, L* = 52.86 and b* = 5.22 (p < 0.05). These results revealed that the treatment of blue light ambience just before slaughtering contributed to the alleviation of ante mortem stress of the birds, which was observed by a 14% decrease in the occurrence of PSE meat. Exposure to blue light just before slaughtering was shown to have potential to be used in modern slaughterhouses to offer a comfortable atmosphere, thereby maintaining breast meat quality.