Lyon, BG; Lyon, CE

Journal of Food Science [J. FOOD SCI.], vol. 62, no. 4, pp. 885-888, Aug 1997

Poultry breasts were deboned at 2, 6, and 24h post-mortem to provide ranges of characteristics to test instrumental and sensory tenderness relationships. Sensory descriptive texture attributes were separated by Variable Cluster Analysis into five groups representing mechanical, moisture, and chewdown characteristics. Warner-Bratzler and Allo-Kramer shear values indicated differences due to deboning time and correlated highly with mechanical and chewdown sensory characteristics. However, texture profiles of samples in shear value ranges corresponding to consumer `tender-tough' categories showed that texture remained differentiated by deboning times. Particle size, bolus and wetness characteristics interacted with minor attributes of saliva, ease of swallow, and mouthcoating to contribute to sensory perceptions and differentiations of texture.