Oxidative changes in cooled and cooked pale, soft, exudative (PSE) chicken meat

Abstract

The mechanisms involved in the development of oxidative changes in pale, soft, exudative (PSE) chicken meat during storage in the dark at 4 °C for 5 days and after cooking at 80 °C for 30 min, light exposure and reheating were explored in this study. The results indicate that myoglobin, lipid and protein oxidation occurred concomitantly during both treatments in PSE chicken meat during storage, and each process seemed to promote the others. Transition metals and metmyoglobin played pivotal roles in the generation of free radicals that triggered lipid and protein oxidation in cooled and cooked PSE, respectively. In contrast, light played a secondary role as an oxidative inducer of these processes. Different pathways triggered the production of compounds from the interactions between oxidative reactions in cooled and cooked PSE chicken meat. The impact of these reactions on the functionality of PSE chicken meat requires further study.

Keywords: Carbonyls; Heme iron; Lipid oxidation; Metmyoglobin; PSE meat; Thiol groups.