ABSTRACT

Two studies were conducted using 20 broiler chickens with the aim of improving the yield, quality and shelf-life of meat products. In the first study, eight broiler chickens were used to investigate the effects of rigor state and curing temperature on yield and quality of smoke-cooked meat using a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement. The results showed that the yield was not significantly (P>0.05) affected by rigor states but was affected (P<0.05) by curing temperatures. The yield of broiler meat was higher in cold cure (14.60%) than in hot cure (6.31%). Furthermore, the interaction between curing temperature and rigor state was also significant (P<0.05) with post rigor and cold cure interacting best with a yield of 15.88%. Effect of rigor on sensory properties of the product showed no significant difference (P>0.05) except for flavour which was higher (2.17) in the pre-rigor carcasses, curing temperature showed no significant effect (P>0.05) while their interaction effect was significant (P<0.05) for the parameters and ranged between 1.75 and 1.92, 2.00 and 2.06, 2.03 and 2.20, 1.56 and 1.74, 2.03 and 2.20,2.44 and 2.64 for texture, juiciness, colour, saltiness, smoky flavour and general acceptability respectively were pre-rigor hot cure meat was most preferred. In the second study, five kilogrammes of manually deboned and comminuted broiler meat was used to determine the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of cloves, ginger, pepper, black pepper and African nutmeg extracts on the quality and shelf-life of nuggets using a completely randomised design. The results for the antioxidant effect of spice extracts revealed that lipid oxidation of chicken nuggets was improved by the inclusion of spice extracts with cloves, ginger, pepper and their combinations performing better (P<0.05) than the other spices. Total plate count, coliform count and fungal count were significantly (P<0.05) reduced with the addition of extracts during storage. It is ix concludedthat optimum yield can be achieved through cold curing in post- rigor state. More so, addition of spice (cloves, ginger, and pepper) extracts led to retarded oxidative rancidity and microbial growth during refrigerated storage, thereby improving the quality and shelf-life of chicken nuggets.