Color Variation in Commercially Packaged Broiler Breast Fillets

Abstract

A survey of broiler breast fillet packages displayed in grocery stores in north Georgia was conducted to determine the extent of breast fillet color variation. Only packages that contained four skinless, boneless breast fillets were included in the survey. Packages were identified by store and brand, and the incidence of packages in which one or more breast fillets were noticeably different in color (either lighter or darker) was recorded. A total of 59 visits were made by a single observer to 16 different store locations where packages from six different brand categories (five "name" brands and one group of minor brand names and store labels) were sampled. Of the 997 packages observed, a total of 71, or 7.1%, had one or more fillets that were noticeably lighter or darker than the others. For the six brand categories, the store brands had 6.15% discolored packages, while the name brands had 0.9, 3.5, 8.4, 12.6, and 16.9% packages with one or more discolored fillets. These results indicate that breast meat color variations may be sufficient to affect product uniformity in retail outlets. The variations between brand names indicates that some companies either are producing birds with less color variation, or they are sorting fillets by color prior to packaging.