Development of warmed-over flavour in ground turkey, chicken and pork meat during chill storage. A model of the effects of heating temperature and storage time

The susceptibility towards development of warmed-over flavour (WOF) was investigated in meat from turkey and chicken breast and thigh, and from pork longissimus dorsi muscle. Ground meat samples from these five sources were heated for 30 min in a water bath at 60, 70 or 80 °C, and the samples were stored at 5 °C for 0–4 days. During storage, WOF was quantified by measurement of thiobarbituric-acid-reactive substances (TBARS) and by sensory evaluations. The increase in TBARS was modelled for each type of meat at the different heating temperatures by a first-order reaction, and it was shown that a common rate constant could be used for all types of meat. The estimated maximum levels of TBARS in meat samples decreased in the following order: turkey thigh > chicken thigh > turkey breast > chicken breast > pork. For each type of meat, the estimated maximum level of TBARS rose when the heating temperature increased in the range 60–80 °C. This temperature effect was particularly obvious for the chicken samples. Thus thigh and breast meat from chicken heated to 60 °C was almost stable against oxidation during storage. Results obtained by measurement of TBARS were in good agreement with the sensory evaluations.