A methodological review in sensory analyses of chicken meat

The sensory characteristics of poultry products are crucial in defining their quality and widely influence consumer choices. Even though the scientific literature clearly indicates that for muscle foods the sensory profile is relevant in purchase decisions and overall acceptability, sensory evaluation has often been underestimated and considered complementary to instrumental and/or chemical assessments. Sensory analysis includes different types of validated tests (discriminative, descriptive, and affective), applied depending on the purpose of the research study, requiring special attention in the sample preparation phase, in particular for nonhomogeneous products such as poultry meat, requiring reproducible cutting, cooking and presentation to the tasters. The aim of this paper is to review, critically assess and discuss sensory methods, standardized procedures and sample preparation tailored for chicken meat, through the literature from 2000 to 2023, with a section dedicated to ethical aspects that must be carefully considered when designing a sensory protocol. The target readers are both the research and the business communities, as the information can be widely applied for quality control, to develop new food products, to understand or drive preferences or, for example, to assess potential sensory differences among chickens fed with different diets. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this review represents a useful first guide for those approaching the sensory analysis of chicken meat.

Quality evaluation of breast meat from chickens fed cassava leaf meal-based diets

Context Feed supply is an important constraint for poultry production in South Pacific island nations. The use of non-conventional feed resources, such as cassava leaves, could partly fill the gap in the feed supply and reduce feed production costs. Cassava leaves are locally available in South Pacific island nations, but the effects of including these in the diet of chickens are not known. Aim It was hypothesised that cassava leaf meal (CLM) at levels of 0%, 10%, 20% and 30% in diets of broiler chickens did not affect the chemical and sensory attributes of breast meat. Methods A total of 80 Cobb 500 female broilers were fed treatment diets with CLM included at levels of 0%, 10%, 20% and 30% DM from the age of 21 days to 49 days. Twenty chickens were subjected to each treatment diet. Samples of pectoralis major muscles (breast meat) from chickens fed the treatment diets were removed and analysed for chemical and sensory parameters. Key results Ash, crude fat and carbohydrate content were low in breast meat of chickens fed diets with higher inclusion levels of CLM (30%) compared with breast meat of chickens fed other treatment diets (P < 0.05). There was a quadratic relationship between ash content of breast meat and inclusion levels of CLM in the diets of chickens (P < 0.05). No relationships were observed between sensory attributes of breast meat and inclusion levels of CLM in the diets of chickens. Principal component analysis showed the first four principal components (PC) with an eigenvalue >1 account for 77.1% of the total variance for quality parameters of breast meat from chicken fed CLM-based diets. The two main components (PC1 vs PC2) together explained 52.46% of the variation. The data on panellists generated by PC1 versus PC2 plot suggests that the roasted breast meat could be separated by different treatment groups. Conclusion The results show that CLM inclusion in the diets of chickens does not affect the sensory qualities of chicken breast meat. Chemical attributes of breast meat were, however, affected when broiler chickens were fed CLM-based diets Implication Further exploration of the fatty acid profile and oxidative stability of breast meat from chickens fed CLM-based diets is essential for human clinical application and the meat processing industry.