ABSTRACT
I. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
II. Nutritional Aspects of Frozen Poultry and Poultry Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
A. Nutrient Composition of Poultry Meat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
B. Ingredients Added to Poultry Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
C. Proteins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
III. Quality of Poultry Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
A. Freezing, Packaging, and Thawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
B. Frozen Poultry Product Quality during Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
1. Carcass Changes during Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
2. Bone Darkening during Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
3. Palatability Changes during Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
4. Protein Changes during Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
C. Intrinsic Chemical Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
1. Protein Denaturation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
2. Enzyme Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
D. The Concern for Quality and Consumer Acceptance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
1. Preservatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
2. Acidulants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
3. Antioxidants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
4. Stability and Acceptability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
E. Protecting the Quality of Frozen Poultry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
1. Product Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
2. Product Packaging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
3. Product Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
IV. Safety of Poultry Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
A. Concern for Food Safety and Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
B. Preventive Measures in the Processing Plant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
1. Phosphate Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
2. Chlorine Compounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
3. Ozonation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
4. Organic Acid Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
5. Hot Wash Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
6. Temperature Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
V. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
In the United States, production and consumption of poultry have increased more rapidly than that
of other meat sources since the 1960s. Consequently, poultry meat has become one of the meats
most commonly chosen by consumers and is generally preferred by health-conscious consumers.
In 1993, U.S. production of broilers reached 6.65 billion birds worth almost US$10 billion and pro-
duction of turkeys totaled almost 300 million birds with a value of US$2.4 billion. Both of these
statistics represent new records in production volume. The production, processing, and marketing
of such large volumes of highly perishable food products make temperature control critical for this
industry. Freezing and frozen storage constitutes the most effective long-term means of maintaining
high quality and safety of the products for consumers.
