Comparison of Thawing Treatments on Quality, Microbiota, and Organoleptic Characteristics of Chicken Meat Fillets

The current research attempted to evaluate the impactof variousthawing techniques (R-0: control group, R-1: waterimmersion thawing, R-2: low-temperature thawing, R-3: combined thawing, water thawing then low-temperature thawing, R-4: combination thawing, low temperature thawing then waterthawing, and R-5: oven thawing) on the quality, microbiota,and organoleptic characteristics of chicken meat fillets. The findingsshowed that moisture content varied from 74.43 to 72.33%; thawingloss peaked in R-1 at 4.66%, while it was minimum in R-5 at 2.10%. Lipid content varied from 1.09% in R-0 to 1.03% in R-5, while protein content varied from 22.06%in R-0 to 23.10% in R-1. The values of shear force,protein, and lipid oxidation increased for all treatments comparedto control, ranging from 7.94 N to 9.54 N, 0.99-1.21 nm/mgprotein, and 0.74-1.15 mg MDA/Kg, respectively. On the otherhand, pH (5.94 in R-4) and protein solubility (238.63 mg/gin R-1) were decreased in contrast to the control group(6.08 and 298.27 mg/g). In association with different methods, R-5 and R-2 showed minimal thawing loss and the highestlipid and protein oxidation rates. However, R-3 showed reducedshear force and lipid oxidation comparatively. TPC was significantly(P < 0.05) increased in both R-2 andR(1). Sensory evaluation indicated that R-3 andR(2) showed better color and taste, while R-1 showedminimum scores for organoleptic attributes. R-0, R-3, and R-5 obtained a higher sensory score(,) whereasR(1), R-2, and R-4 showed a lower score.However, R-5 exhibited better results in close associationwith the control group (R-0). Hence, it can be concludedthat freezing and subsequent thawing decrease the quality of chickenfillets due to the time required for thawing. In the present study,the best quality of chicken fillets was retained by R-3 andR(5) due to their reduced thawing periods.