ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the potential development postharvest of the broiler chicken to provide high quality and healthy meat and meat products. Broiler meat production represents of the largest food industries worldwide. Broiler muscle structure and physiology will be described to enable an understanding of their effect on meat quality characteristics and their effects on post-slaughter changes during rigor mortis, deboning, packaging, and storage. Broiler skeletal muscle fibers, similar to mammalian muscle fibers, can also be divided into white, red, and intermediate muscle fiber types. The major broiler meat quality attributes are tenderness, juiciness, flavor, color, and functionality. Tenderness is probably the single most critical quality factor associated with the consumer’s ultimate satisfaction with a broiler meat product. Broiler meat tenderness can be evaluated using a shear force device. It uses a blade/knife to cut the meat sample, whereas penetration tests use a flat/round probe.
