Prediction of Poultry Meat Tenderness Using Razor Blade Shear, Allo‐Kramer Shear, and Sarcomere Length

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This study was conducted to evaluate a new shearing method for the determination of poultry meat tenderness. Breast fillets were deboned at various postmortem times (0.25 to 24 h) to yield a vast array of tenderness levels. A trained descriptive panel was used to evaluate samples for attributes including initial hardness and chewdown hardness; instrumental measurements included Allo‐Kramer (AK) and razor blade (RB) shear and laser sarcomere length determination. The RB shear method exhibited a higher correlation to sensory attributes than the AK method, suggesting that the new razor blade shear method is more advantageous in predicting poultry meat tenderness than the standard AK shear method. This new method not only has a higher sensory predictive value, but also requires shorter sample preparation time than the AK shear test because it is conducted on intact fillets.