Effect of Automobile Exhaust Fume Inhalation by Poultry Immediately Prior to Slaughter on Color of Meat

Abstract

RECENT research has indicated that various factors may influence poultry meat color. Froning and Hartung (1967) studied the effect of age, sex and strain on the color of turkey meat. Meat color was noted to become darker and to increase in redness (higher aL values) with advancing age of the bird. Some strain differences in redness were also observed. The effect of dietary nitrates and nitrites on development of pink color reaction in processed poultry meat was investigated by Froning et al. (1967, 1968). Nitrates and nitrites fed at higher levels were shown to increase the visual redness and aL values of chicken and turkey meat. Pool (1956) reported that small amounts of nitric oxide and carbon monoxide from oven gases will produce an undesirable pink surface reaction in cooked poultry meat. Exhaust fumes from internal combustion engines contain oxides of nitrogen (nitric oxide+nitrogen dioxide) and carbon monoxide (Abelson, 1967;…