Mechanical analysis of Wooden Breast muscle in broiler during chilled storage

The literature review deals with different biochemical factors affecting texture changes of poultry meat during chilled storage. Proteolysis plays one of major roles in postmortem tenderization. The calpain system is activated by calcium and calpain is a key protease for cytoskeletal protein degradation. Different instrumental methods which are applied to measure meat texture were described. The aims of this study were to investigate mechanical properties of Wooden Breast and Normal muscles during 168 h of postmortem storage at 5˚C; both raw and cooked conditions were compared. Additionally, possible related changes in weight losses and myofibrillar proteins were examined. The results showed that raw Wooden Breast were significantly harder (p0.05) in mechanical properties in 80% compression, between these two categories. Weight losses, SDS-electrophoresis and Western Blot pointed to a relationship between proteolytic activity and texture changes. However, Allo-Kramer shear force implied that cooking (75°C) diminished the difference in hardness between Wooden Breast and Normal meat, and that the tenderness of cooked meat increased during storage time