01998Applied Poultry Science, Inr

EFFECTSOF BROILER
BREAST
MEAT
FIBERDIRECTION,
DICING,
AND
POST-MORTEM DEBONING
TIMEON
&LO-KRAMER SHEAR

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D.l? SMITH' and D. L. FLETCHER
Department of Poultry Science, Universityof Georgia, P.O. Box 1358,
Science Division, Gainesville, GA 30503
Phone: (770) 718-3706
F M : (770) 718-3770
E-mail:drmith@hemes.gc.peachnet.edu

Primary Audience: Research and Development, Quality Assurance,

Researchers

surements [l,2, 3,4, 5,6]. Heath and Owens

DESCRIPTION
OF PROBLEM reported that changing the size of the sam-
Objective methods for determining poul-
try meat tenderness include the Warner-
Bratzler (WE%) shear and Allo-Kramer (AK)
shear. Because of the widespread use of these
techniques, the equipment parameters and
settings should be reported to allow standard-
ization and comparison of results between
studies. Samples used in these tests should
also be standardized when possible as sample
orientation can affect objective texture mea-
ple used affected objective texture evaluation,
and Dodge and Stadelman [8] found objective
evaluations compared to taste panel studies
were also affected by sample size. There have
been numerous reports on the effect of post-
mortem aging time on poultry meat texture
evaluation [9, 10, 11, 12, 131. These studies
have shown that breast meat deboned early
post-mortem (less than 4 hr) have si&icantly

1 To whom correspondence should be addressed

282
higher shear values than breast meat aged
longer than 4 hr.
Contrary to the preceding research,
Deman and Kame1 [14] stated that chicken
breast meat samplescuuld be cut into irregular
shapes and placed in the AK shear cell without
regard to sample orientation. Boutonetal. [15]
reported similar results, as a sensory panel
evaluating beef muscle found no significant
difference between intact samples cut either
perpendicular or parallel to fiber direction.
?kro reports found that early deboned chicken
breast meat samplestreated with a proprietary
process (electrical stimulation and high tem-
perature conditioning followed by marina-
tion) were not significantly tougher than
conventionally processed controls; however,
samples from both treatments had been diced
into cubes before placement in the AK shear
cell [16,17].
The purpose of this experiment was to
determine the effect of sample orientation
(surface fiber direction) and preparation
(diced vs. intact) on AK shear values of broiler
breast meat. Different post-mortem aging
times were used to provide a range of tough to
tender samples for evaluating the sensitivityof
AK shear when testing different sample orien-
tations and preparations.
MATERIALS
AND METHODS
EXPERIMENT 1
Sixty ready-to cook broilers (Peterson x
Arbor Acres) of mixed sex were obtained at
the chiller exit from a commercial processing
plant in each of three replicate trials. The
pectoralis major muscle was removed im-
mediately (1 hr post-mortem) from30 broilers
or after overnight chilling in ice water slush
(24 hr) from the 30 remaining broilers. At
24 hr post-mortem the breast meat was placed
in steel pans and steam cooked at 98°C for
20 min. The samples were cooled to room tem-
perature and one 2.54 cm diameter core was
removed from the cranial area of each breast.
Breast halves and correspondingsample cores
were kept paired throughout the experiment.
In each replicate group, 10 of the 30 pairs of
cores were randomly assigned to one of three
test angle groups. Meat samples were placed
with surface muscle fibers either perpendicu-
lar to the blades (90"), at a 45" angle to the
blades (45"), or parallel to the blades (0").
ALLO-KFUMER SHEAR
All samples were then sheared after place-
ment into the cell at the prescribed angle.
One of the paired samples was sheared at the
test angle (O", 45", or W"), while the other
sample was sheared at 90",providing a paired
control.
The sample cores were individually
weighed and then placed in the center of the
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AUo-Kramer shear cell [18] mounted on an
Instron Universal Testing Machine [19]. Full
scale load was set at 20, and crosshead speed
was 500 mm/min. Peak load to shear each sam-
ple core was recorded and shear values deter-
mined by dividing peak load (kg) by core
sample weight (g); shear values are reported
as kg shear/g sample. All samples in each rep-
licate were sheared on the same day they were
cooked.
All statistical analyses were performed
using SAS [20]. Statistical analysis was per-
formed using the ANOVA procedure of
General Linear Models with significancelevel
of P < .05 [21].
EXPERIMENT 2
In this trial, 16 live commercial broilers
(Peterson x Arbor Acres) of mixed sex were
obtained from a local commercial processor
after delivery to the plant in each of two repli-
cate trials. Birds were then held 3 days with
feed and water ad libitum, followed by an 8 hr
feed withdrawal on the day of the experiment.
Birds were slaughtered and processed simu-
lating commercial conditions [22]. Breast
muscles (pectoralis major) were removed
immediately after evisceration (0.5 hr), after
chilling (1hr), or after refrigeration (5°C) at
4 and 24 hr post-mortem. AU muscles were
subsequently held at refrigeration until 24 hr
post-mortem, then cooked as previously de-
scribed. Contralateral breast halves and sub-
sequent samples were kept paired throughout
the experiment.
Sample preparation consisted of removal
of one 3 cm square from the cranial area of
each cooked breast using a razor blade and
3 x 3 cm template. One sample from each
pair was then cut into 10 mm cubes, whereas
the other sample remained intact. Samples,
both diced and intact, were then weighed and
placed in the AK shear cell. Diced samples
were placed in the cell with random orienta-
tion of the cubes, while the intact samples were
placed with surface fibers perpendicular to the
 Research Report
SMITH and FLETCHER
blades. All samples were sheared on the same
day as cooked and AK shear settings were
otherwise as described in Experiment 1.
All statistical analyses were performed
using SAS [20]. Statistical analysis was per-
formed using the ANOVA procedure of
General Linear Models with significancelevel
of P < .05 [23].
AND DISCUSSION
RESULTS
EXPERIMENT 1
Data for Experiment 1 are reported by
deboning time and fiber angle for both AK test
and AK control values in Table 1; data are
reported as kg shear/g meat. The 1 hr 0" AK
test shear value of 5.2 was signifcantly lower
than the 45" and 90" values of 9.1 and 9.8,
respectively, with no difference between the
45" and 90" values. For 24 hr samples, the AK
test shear value for the 0" angle (2.7) was
significantly lower than both the 45" and 90"
values (4.2 and 4.1, respectively); the 45" and
90"values were not significantly different. No
differences were observed for AK control
values within either the 1 or 24 hr sample
groups.
A significant differencewas noted for 1 hr
samples between 0" AK test value (5.2) and
the AK control value (10.6), and for the 45"
AK test (9.1) and control (11.5) as determined
by the t-test. No difference was observed be-
tween the 90" AK test (9.8) and control (10.0)
values; as this was a means of using a direct
control within each experimental group, no
differences were expected between these 90"
values. The t-test for 24 hr samples across the
paired AK test and control shear values
showed significant differences for the 0" and
DEBONING TIME FIBER ANGLE
Test
Hr
1 90" 9.8ak0.9
45" 9.la
k0.7
0" 5.2bk05
24 90" 4.1ak0.2
45" 4.2ak0.3
0" 2.7b&O.l
283
45" values (2.7 vs. 4.3 and 4.2 vs. 4.9, respec-
tively). There was no difference between AK
test shear (4.1) and AK control shear (4.6) for
the 90" values.
Percentage decreases in AK shear values
as a result of changing surface fiber orientation
appear in Figure 1. For 1 hr samples, the 90"
AK test value was 103%the value of its paired
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90" control. The 45"AK test value was 85% of
its paired control. The 0" AK test value was
54% of its paired 90" control. The percent
decrease at 0" was significantly greater than
the 45" percent decrease, which was sigoifi-
cantly greater than the 90" percent decrease
value. For 24 hr samples, the 90" AK test value
was 93% the value of its paired 90" control.
The 45"AK test value was 90% of its paired
control. The 0" AK test value was 64% of its
paired 90" control. The 0" AK test percentage
decrease was si@icantly lower than the 45"
and 90" percent decreases, which were not
sigolficantly different from each other.
The force required to shear or break apart
samples during tenderness evaluation has
previously been reported to be influenced by
orientation of the sample. Bratzler [2] stipu-
lated that intact meat samples should be pre-
pared for shearing by cutting parallel with the
muscle fibers, then shearing perpendicular to
fiber direction. Hostetler and Ritchey [3] also
reported orientation of the fibers in the meat
sample affected beef muscle shear results. The
tensile strength of beef was 10 times greater
when meat samples were tested perpendicular
to fiber orientation than when parallel to fiber
direction [5];similarly,strainmeasurements of
beef muscle were significantly affected by the
fiber orientation of the samples [6].
AK SHEAR PROBABILITY
90"Control
kg Shear/g Meat
10.0a-C0.9 0.7208
11.Sa+0.9 0.0011
10.6a&1.0 o.Ooo1
4.6a-t0.2 0.0614
4.9ak0.3 0.0430
4.3ak0.2 o.ooo1
 JAPR
284 ALLO-KRAMER SHEAR

126n I

100
Percent

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80
( % ) of
T e s t AK
60
Shear
Value
40
vs.
Control
20

0
90 45 0 90 45 0

1 hr 2 4 hr
Surface F i b e r Angle
Within Deboning Time
FIGURE 1. Percentage reduction in AK shear values from surface fiber angle orientation presentations vs.
corresponding control values for 1 and 24 hr post-mortem deboned broiler breast meat samples. a-CDifferent
letters on columns within deboning times indicate significant differences (Pi.05)

The results for Experiment 1 show that
regardless of processing treatment, changes in
surface fiber orientation from other than per-
pendicular will produce significantly lower
shear values when using the AK method for
evaluatingbreast meat tenderness. The differ-
ences between test and control values are
more pronounced in the 1 hr samples than in
the 24 hr samples. Therefore, this experiment
supports the reports listed above that sample
orientation may significantly affect shear re-
sults. However, the relatively smaller differ-
ences in observed AK shear due to orientation
changes for 24 hr samples could explain other
reported research where differences due to
sample orientation were not observed if the
meat samplesused were from muscles aged for
longer lengths of time. This experiment pro-
vides evidence that meat samples tested with
AK shear must be oriented with fibers perpen-
dicular to the blades, especially when evaluat-
ing early deboned muscle.
EXPERIMENT 2
AK shear values for intact and diced
samples aged various times post-mortem in
Experiment 2 appear in Table 2; data are re-
ported as kg shear/g meat. Shear values for
intact samples deboned at 0.5,1,and 4 hr post-
mortem (14.6, 16.8, and 12.3, respectively)
were not significantly different from each
other, but all were significantly greater than
the 24-hr sample value (4.1). For diced sam-
ples, the 0.5, 1, and 4 hr sample values (9.1,
~ 10.9, and 9.4, respectively) were all signifi-
cantly higher than the 24 hr sample value (3.2).
 Research Report
SMITH and FLETCHER
DEBONING TIME SAMPLE PRESENTATION
Intact
Hr kg Shear/g Meat
05 14.6ak2.0
1 16.Bak15
4 12.3ak1.5
24 4.1bk0.8
The 0.5 and 4 hr sampleswere not si&icantly
different, nor were the 1 and 4 hr samples. But
the 1 hr sample was significantly higher than
the 0.5 hr sample. Paired intact and diced
samples at 0.5 hr (14.6 vs. 9.1) and 1 hr (16.8
vs. 10.9) were significantly different as deter-
mined by the t-test, but there was no difference
between intact and diced samples at 4 and
24 hr.
Previous research has indicated that shear
values may differ due to intact vs. diced sample
preparation. In an indirect comparison, Lyon
and Lyon [l3]found chicken breast samples
sheared intact by the Warner-Bratzler (one
blade) method required approximately twice
the shear force as diced samples sheared with
the AUo-Kramer method after aging 2 hr post-
mortem; intact samples required approxi-
mately 25% more force than diced samples
aged 24 hr post-mortem. As previously noted,
sample size can affect broiler breast AK shear
results [7l and correlations between AK shear
and taste panel evaluations [8].
Results from Experiment 2 show that
sample dicing significantly lowered AK shear
values of early deboned samples. Dicing did
not significantly lower AK values for breast
meat samples aged longer (4 hr or longer).
Results from this experiment support research
that sample preparation and size (dicing) can
significantly affect AK shear values, but only
for meat deboned early.
Experiment 2 results refute the use of
sample dicing for AK shear analysis of early
deboned meat, as opposed to the practice of
Clatfelter and Webb [16] and Webb et al. [lq,
where diced chicken breast meat samples
285
PROBABILITY
Diced
9.1b k0.5 0.0189
10.9" kO.5 0.0023
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9.4abk0.8 0.1142
3.2' k0.2 0.2922
were used for AK shear to evaluate tenderness
of early deboned meat treated with a propri-
etary process. Their subsequent reports that
AK shear results for early deboned chicken
breast did not differ significantlyfrom conven-
tionally processed controls may result from
the dicing of the samples rather than actual
increased tenderness. Therefore, samples
should not be diced when determining tender-
ness of early deboned meat, but may be appli-
cable to tenderness evaluations of well-aged
meat.
The overall effect of post-mortem aging
on broiler breast meat tenderness observed
in this study (Experiments 1 and 2) matched
previous reports [9, 10, 11, 12, 131; broiler
breast meat aged longer than 4 hr requires
significantly less force to shear than meat
deboned earlier than 4 hr. Van Hoof [l]stated
that objective tenderness evaluation tests
should be standardized for sample prepara-
tion, fiber orientation of the sample, and the
time of sampling (before, during, or after rigor
mortis). This study also provides evidence that
both muscle fiber orientation and sample
preparation (intact vs. diced) significantly af-
fect the AK shear results of broiler breast
meat. In addition, post-mortem aging time sig-
nificantly affects shear values of broiler breast
meat, but affects shear values from different
orientations or preparation to a different ex-
tent. Therefore, sample presentation and
preparation, especially for early deboned
meat, is critical for obtaining valid results
when objectively evaluating broiler breast
meat tenderness.
 JAPR
286 ALLO-KRAMER SHEAR

CONCLUSIONS
AND APPLICATIONS
1. Surface fiber orientation of meat samples presented to the AK shear is very important
because changing the fiber angle can significantly lower shear results, especially for early
deboned samples.
2. Dicing the sample prior to shearing can significantly lower AK shear results for samples
aged less than 4 hr, and therefore should not be used for evaluation of early deboned meat.

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3. Early deboned broiler breast meat samples evaluated for objective tenderness (AKshear)
must be sheared intact with blades perpendicular to the surfacefibers to obtain valid results.

REFERENCES
AND NOTES
1. Van Hoof, J., 1981. Ob'ective methods for texture
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2. Bratzler, U., 1949. Determiningthe tenderness of
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120 in: Proc. 2nd Ann. Recip. Meat Conf., Chicago, IL.
3. Hostetler, RL and SJ. Ritchey, 1964. Effect of
coring methods on shear values determined by Warner-
Bratzler shear. J. Food Sci. 29:681-685.
4. Bin, F. and M.R McLellan, 1988. Effect of sample
weight and orientation on the texture press force of apple
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6. Kamonn, M. and J. Culioli, 1988. Mechanical
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7. Heath,J.L and S L Owens, 1997. Measurement of
broiler breast meat shear values. J. Appl. Poultry Res.
6:185-190.
8. Dodge, J.W. 9 d WJ. S'ade.lman, 1960. Studies on
tenderness evaluation. Poultry SCI. 39:184-187.
9. Doage, J.W. and WJ. Stadelman, 1959. Post-
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derness o the breast muscles. Food Tech. 1381-84.
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10. Goodwin, T.L, 1984. It takes tou discipline to
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14. Deman, J.M. and B.S. Kame4 1981. Instrumental
methods of measurin texture of poultry meat. Pages
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15. Bouton, P.E, kL Ford, P.V. Harris,and D.
Ratdift, 1975. Objectivesub'ective assessment of meat
tenderness. J. Texture Stud. f!:315-328.
16. Claffelter, K.A. and J.E Webb, 1987. Method of
eliminating aging step in poultry processing. U.S.Patent
4,675,947.
17. Webb. J.E. RL Dake. and RE Wolfe. 1989.
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18. Food Technology Corporation, Rockland, MD.
19, Instron Corporation, Canton, MA.
20. SAS Institute, '"8. SAS/STAT Guide for Per-
sonal Com uters Version 6.03 Edition. SAS Institute,
Rc.
Inc., a r y , .
21. Since no treatment X replication interaction was
found, the main effects of test an e and deboning time
8:
were tested usin residual error. earn were separated
using Duncan's dultiple Range test. The t-test procedure
was used for direct comparison of paired AK control and
test sampleswithin deboning time and test angle.
22. Birds were exsanguinated, bled for 90 sec,
machine-scalded at 132"P, machine-picked for 60 sec,
and manually eviscerated.
23. Since no treatment X replication interaction was
found, the main effects of sample presentation and
deboning time were tested using residual error. Means
were separated using Duncan's Multiple Range test. The
t-test procedure was used for direct comparison of paired
intact and diced samples within deboning time.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study was supported in part by state and Hatch
funds allocated to the Georgia Agricultural Experiment
Station.