MICROBIAL LOAD AND SENSORY EVALUATION OF BROILER BREAST MEAT PRESERVED BY REFRIGERATION, SUNDRYING AND GROUNDNUT OIL

Abstract

Many Nigerians are involved in poultry production whether at subsistence or commercial level yet, there is unavailability of quality poultry meat. This has been adduced to unstable power supply for preservation of dressed carcass and inadequate knowledge of alternative processing or preservation techniques. This study aimed at the possibility of immersing broiler meat in groundnut oil as a medium of preservation. Dressed carcasses were processed and preserved by refrigeration (Control: T1), sun-drying (T2) and immersion in groundnut oil (T3). Samples from each of the treatments were processed for microbial load and sensory  evaluation using 9-point Hedonic Scale. The data were collected on preservation days 0, 7, 14 and 21. It was shown that Proteus mirabilis, Bacillus firmus, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella aerugenes and Aeromonas hydrophila were recorded in all the treated samples. The responses of the panellists indicated that the meat samples appearance, was liked extremely (66.7%) and very much (33.3%) in all the treatments except, in T2 where 33.3% disliked the meat samples extremely. Also, it was observed that colour, aroma and texture were best in T3, fairly followed by T2 and T1 in that order. Consequently, broiler breast meat embedded in groundnut oil may be preferred to other form of processing and preservation methods hence, the need to intensify more efforts in improving on this inexpensive technique of broiler meat preservation