Poultry meat quality: an overview

Description

Meat quality is a complex issue, with different requirements from consumers and processors. Consumption quality is based on an assessment of subjective sensory qualities, nutritive value and assurance that animal welfare issues have been respected. In contrast, processing quality is mainly based on objective physical and/or chemical features. This chapter summarizes current research on poultry meat quality. Aspects of poultry meat quality (ingredients, nutritive-physiological value, hygiene and toxicology, physical and technological properties, sensory characteristics) are defined, factors affecting these aspects are named and methods for determining the aspects are described in detail. Indicators of meat maturation such as pH or conductivity are described as the main basis for consumption and processing quality of the meat. Attention is also drawn to poultry meat as an enriched food (for example, with n-3 fatty acids), to the incidence of and probable reasons for quality aberrations and to hygienic risks.

Table of contents

1 Introduction 2 The nutritive value of poultry meat: description, assessment and improvement 3 Important physical and functional properties of poultry meat 4 Poultry meat shelf-life 5 Sensory assessment of poultry meat 6 Conclusions 7 Where to look for further information 8 References