Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES, cilt.29, sa.1, ss.343-351, 2023 (Scopus)
In poultry slaughterhouses, carcasses can be contaminated with
microorganisms at various points during the slaughtering processes,
affecting some quality characteristics and shelf life of chicken meat. The
present study was conducted to investigate the effects of different defeathering methods on the meat quality characteristics and shelf life of
broiler chickens. Forty male broilers 42 days of age (Ross 308) were used
in the experiment. After slaughtering, they divided into 2 groups and first
group was de-feathered by simple dry plucking method (DPM) and the
other was a classic wet method (CWM). 5 fillets and 5 drumsticks from
each treatment group were analyzed 0, 3, 5, and 7th days of storage time.
The water holding capacity (WHC), color, pH and Warner-Bratzler shear
force value (W-BSFV) were analyzed for meat quality characteristics of
the raw meat samples. Total aerobic mesophilic bacteria, total
psychrophilic bacteria, numbers of microorganisms assessed critically for
food safety such as coliform bacteria, E. coli, Enterococcus spp.
Campylobacter spp. also, the presence of Salmonella spp. in carcasses
was determined. The results indicated that the skin colors of the fillets
and drumsticks were yellower and the meat color of the drumsticks was
darker in the DPM group than CWM. On the other hand, no significant
effects of the plucking method were detected on the WHC and W-BSFV
of the samples. The pH value of the fillets was higher in CWM group
(P<0.01), but there were no differences between the pH values of
drumsticks of two groups. The microorganism levels, however, were
influenced significantly (P<0.01) by the plucking methods and the storage
time. The shelf life of the carcasses was shortened, due to the high
microbial load in DPM group. It is concluded that simple DPM may be
used by low capacity farms which produce the broilers for consumers who
prefer yellow-skinned chicken meat at the expense of reduction in the
shelf life due to increased microbial load.