Meat quality and sensory analysis of marinated broiler breast fillet portions affected with woody breast

Recently, the poultry industry has encountered an emerging muscle myopathy known as woody breast (WB), characterized by hardness throughout the Pectoralis major muscle. Experiments were performed to assess marination performance of portioned fillets affected with WB and the effect of marination on meat quality factors, and describe sensory characteristics of WB portions using descriptive analysis. Fillets were categorized as normal (NORM), with no WB, or severe (SEV) WB. In Experiment 1, each fillet was portioned into dorsal and ventral halves. Portions from one side of each butterfly breast fillet were used as non-marinated controls, while portions from the other side were vacuum-tumble marinated. Marination performance was measured calculating marinade retention and overall raw product yield. Meat quality factors, including Warner-Bratzler (WB), cook loss, and cooked yield were measured. In Experiment 2, descriptive (n=9 trained panelists) sensory analysis was conducted with NORM and SEV marinated and non-marinated portions.