Influence of post-mortem aging in tenderness of chicken breast fillets

摘要

In this work, analysis of chicken breast fillets was performed for shear values and sensory evaluation after different times of aging. Aging process was carried out by holding carcasses in covered plastic boxes, in a cold room, at 3 +/- 1ºC; groups of 5 carcasses were stored and classified according to the period of storage in cold room as 0 (control), 2, 4, 8, 12 and 24 hours. The variation in pH of chicken carcasses during rigor decreased from 6.4 to 5.9. However, during the process of aging, the pH values increased up to 6.2 in the first 12h, probably as the result of proteolysis. The Warner-Bratzler shear values decreased as aging time increases, resulting in a first order kinetic. The carcasses presented a more accentuated decline in shear values in the first two hours of aging. After this period, the curve had a similar performance, achieving values of less than 1 kgf in 4 hours or more, with complete aging being accomplished at 8 hours. The samples with higher period of aging (8, 12 and 24 hours) were preferred in sensorial analysis, without significant differences among them.