Abstract

Lipid and myoglobin oxidation are major causes of meat quality deterioration during storage of fresh chicken meat. Our objective is to determine the effects of dietary α-tocopherol supplementation on lipid and colour stability of fresh chicken thigh meat exposed in a supermarket shopwindow or stored in a refrigerator. Chickens were fed with diets containing 25 (control), 100, 200 or 300 mg vitamin E/kg of food for 20 days before slaughtering. Peroxide value (PV) and oxidation products specific extinctions (K232 and K270), chosen as markers for oxidative deterioration of lipids, were lower in chicken meat from animals supplemented with 200 or 300 mg vitamin E than that of the control meat upon storage during  5 days in a shopwindow (p < 0.01) or 9 days in a refrigerator (p < 0.01). Vitamin E dietary supplementation (200 mg vitamin E/kg of food) reduced oxidation products formation in fresh thighs meat but had no significant impact on colour analysed by value redness (a*) measurements.

Key words: Chicken, diet supplementation, vitamin E, lipid oxidation, meat colour.