The Effect of Marination Method and Holding Time on Physicochemical and Sensory Properties of Broiler Meat

Abstract

Marination is a simple technology to enhance the meat quality characteristics. The present study investigated the effect of the marination method and holding time on physicochemical and sensory properties of broiler meat. Deboned thigh meat obtained from 32-days old broiler chickens were marinated with a commercially available marinade mixture using three different methods; Injection, Immersion, and Tumbling. Un-marinated meat was kept as the control. Each treatment was further held at three different holding times of 4, 8, and 12 hours (n=7). The meat samples from each treatment (n=21) were analyzed for pH, water holding capacity (WHC), cooking loss, cooking yield, uptake of marinade, marinade loss, meat colour, and shearing force value (SFV). Cooked meat samples from each treatment were evaluated for sensory properties. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design and two-way analysis of variance was conducted to determine the effects of marination method and their interaction with the holding time. Irrespective to the holding time marination method significantly (P<0.05) influenced on all the physicochemical parameters assessed. Among the criteria assessed, darkness (-l*) and yellowness (b*) of meat was not significantly (P>0.05) influenced by the holding time. Tumbling resulted (P<0.05) higher marinade uptake, cooking yield, and higher pH value and the values were the highest (P<0.05) at 8 hours. Tumbling resulted (P<0.05) the lowest drip loss, SFV, cooking loss compared to other methods. Marination effectively reduced (P<0.05) SFV than untreated control. Of the meat colour parameters assessed, tumbling and immersion yielded (P<0.05) the highest darkness (-l*) and redness (a*) meat at both 8 and 12 hours. As compared to other methods, immersion method significantly improved (P<0.05) the darkness (-l*) of meat. Sensory data suggested that the injection method improved (P<0.05) the sensory attributes for texture, marinade penetration, colour penetration, flavour and overall acceptability. Immersion method significantly improved (P<0.05) the sensory attribute for meat color. The present study concluded that the marination of broiler meat by tumbling method held for 8 hours improved physicochemical parameters of broiler meat. Injection method is the best when sensory attributes are concerned.