This research evaluated the properties of cured chicken breasts of broiler chicken with different marketing ages (28, 30, 32, and 34 day). The water contents in the proximate compositions of the samples tended to decrease with increasing marketing age, while the protein content increased. The samples' uncooked and cooked pH values, WHC, and cooking yield increased with increasing marketing age; however, the WHC and cooking yield were not significantly different between the 32 and 34 day samples (p > 0.05). In the case of the color, the 34 day samples were significantly lower in terms of lightness, but significantly higher in redness and yellowness compared to the other samples (p < 0.05). Although the shear forces of the 28-32 day samples were not significantly different (p > 0.05), those of the 28 and 30 day samples were significantly lower than those of the 34 day sample (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the aromatic profile (determined by principal component analysis) of the 34 day sample differed from that of the 28-32 day samples. Flavor evaluation of the cooked 30 and 32 day samples showed significant differences compared to the 28 and 34 day samples (p < 0.05), and the texture evaluation showed that the 34 day sample obtained a significantly lower score than the 28 day sample (p < 0.05). Overall, these results suggest that the current broiler marketing age of 32 day results in suitable quality properties for broiler cured chicken breast.
Keywords: broiler chicken; chicken breast; cured meat products; marketing age; quality properties.