Effects of the rate of muscle post mortem pH fall on the technological quality of turkey meat

1. This experiment evaluated the influence of the rate of post mortem pH fall on the processing ability of turkey meat. 2. Four hundred and twenty male turkeys from a selected pure line (grand-parental female line, BUT Ltd) were slaughtered at 16 weeks of age in a commercial plant and pH was measured in the Pectoralis superficialis (PS) and Ilio tibialis (IT) muscles, at 20 min post mortem. Three groups of PS muscle differing in pH(20) and two groups of IT muscle differing in pH(20) were constituted and processed as cured-cooked white meat and turkey ham, respectively. 3. The technological yield was lower in the groups showing the lowest pH(20) (97.4% at pH(20) 5.90 vs 98.6 and 98.3% at pH(20) 6.24 and 6.55, respectively, for white meat and 97.2% (pH(20) 6.28) vs 98.3% (pH(20) 6.56) for turkey hams). The groups showing the lowest pH(20) also showed higher drip loss in commercially packed products. 4. Acceptability tests of processed products were carried out in the commercial plant. Texture and taste of white meat were better in the highest pH group but the overall impression was similar in the lowest and the highest pH groups (mean scores of 4.2 and 4.1, respectively), due to better colour in the former (mean scores of 4.4 for the lowest pH(20) group vs 4.0 and 3.9 for the medium and highest pH(20) groups, respectively). 5. For turkey hams, the meat processed from the highest pH group got the best score for all items.