Relationships of quality indices with wooden breast myopathy severity in chicken breast meat under refrigerated storage.

1. This study investigated the relationships of quality indices with the severity of wooden breast (WB) myopathy in chicken breast meat under refrigerated storage. The physicochemical properties, water-holding capacity (WHC), microbial quality and fatty acid profiles of normal chicken breast meat samples (NOR samples, n  = 63), moderate WB (MWB, n  = 63) myopathy and severe WB (SWB, n  = 63) myopathy (MWB and SWB samples, respectively) were evaluated immediately after sampling and after 4 and 8 d of refrigerated storage at 4°C.2. Total collagen, fat, saturated and monounsaturated fatty acid contents, redness and pH of the SWB and MWB samples were higher than the NOR samples. The SWB samples that were stored for 8 d had poor WHC, total viable counts (TVC) of higher than 7.0 log colony-forming units, total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) content of greater than 15 mg/100 g and a thiobarbituric acid - reactive substance level of higher than 1 mg/kg malondialdehyde.3. No significant difference was observed in the TVB-N content and TVC of the MWB and NOR samples during storage. Polyunsaturated fatty acid content was lower in the SWB and MWB samples than in the NOR samples. The SWB samples were tougher than the MWB and NOR samples after 8 d of refrigeration.4. In conclusion, the quality of chicken breast meat with SWB myopathy degraded considerably over time; thus, such meat should not be subjected to extended refrigeration for storage.