PROCESSING
Understanding the woody breast syndrome and other myopathies in modern broiler chickens The poultry industry has seen an increase in several breast meat myopathies over the past decade. They range from woody breast syndrome (tough chicken fillet), to white striping and the so-called spaghetti meat (muscle fibre separation). All seem to be related to the quantity of connective tissue within the muscle. A number of researchers are of the opinion that they all have the same etiology. working on reducing the prevalence, by modifying environmental factors and by genetic selection. The presentation will further explain the types of myopathies observed as well as the factors currently being studied in an attempt to reduce the incidence.
Introduction
Summary
S. Barbut Food Science Department, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada sbarbut@uoguelph.ca
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It is currently estimated that breast meat myopathies cost the global poultry industry over $1 billion in direct and indirect costs. The incidence of these myopathies, within a given flock, appears to be related to factors such as growth rate, genetics, nutrition, management and bird activity. The resulting meat can have tougher texture, lower binding and reduced water holding, but does not present a food safety issue. However, because of the appearance of the meat some might be trimmed at the processing plant. Different segments of the industry are now
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The rise in incidence of myopathies in young broilers over the past few years has resulted in the industry looking for solutions to reduce and/or eliminate their effects in the poultry flock. The main three myopathies of concern are the so-called white striping (WS - parallel white stripes on the surface of the broiler’s pectoralis muscle), woody breast (WB - accumulation of connective tissue fibres and fat cells in the inner pectoralis muscle), and spaghetti meat (SP - appearing like splitting of the muscle bundles), which seem to be associated with fast growing and heavier birds. It should be noted that other myopathies in areas such as the leg, the dorsal part of the bird, and the deep pectoralis muscle are detected sometimes, but not at the levels of WS or WB, and therefore currently do not cause major concern. Estimates of the costs and causes have been reported in recent years in both scientific journals and the general press. One such example is the 2016 Wall Street Journal article titled “Bigger Chickens Bring a
