PROCESSING, PRODUCTS, AND FOOD SAFETY

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1 PROCESSING, PRODUCTS, AND FOOD SAFETY Comparison of cook loss, shear force, and sensory descriptive profiles of boneless skinless white meat cooked from a frozen or thawed state 1 Hong Zhuang2 and Elizabeth M. Savage USDA, Agricultural Research Service, Russell Research Center, 950 College Station Road, Athens, GA ABSTRACT Four replications were conducted to compare quality measurements, cook loss, shear force, and sensory quality attributes of cooked boneless skinless white meat, broiler breast fillets (pectoralis major) prepared directly from a frozen state or prepared from a thawed state. In each replication, fresh broiler fillets (removed from carcasses 6 8 h postmortem) were procured from a local commercial processing plant and stored in a 20 C freezer until use. On the sensory evaluation date, fillets were cooked to an endpoint temperature of 78 C either directly from the frozen state (thawing during cooking) or after the frozen samples were thawed in a refrigerator (2 C) overnight (thawing before cooking). Cook loss and Warner-Bratzler (WB) shear force were used as indicators for instrumental quality measurements. Sensory quality measurements were conducted by trained descriptive panelists using 0 to 15 universal intensity scales for 8 texture and 10 flavor attributes. Results show that there were no differences (P > 0.05) in measurements for sensory descriptive flavor attributes of cooked fillets between the 2 sample thawing methods, indicating that the sensory flavor profiles of both methods were similar to each other. However, WB shear force (36.98 N), cook loss (21.2%), sensory texture attributes of cohesiveness (intensity score was 5.59), hardness (5.14), rate of breakdown (5.50), and chewiness (5.21) of the breast fillets cooked directly from the frozen state were significantly higher (P < 0.05) than those of the breast meat cooked after being thawed (30.56 N, 19.0%, 5.19, 4.78, 5.29, and 5.02, respectively). These results indicate that cookery directly from frozen boneless skinless white meat can result in different measurement values of cook loss, shear force, and sensory descriptive texture attributes compared with cookery after frozen fillets are thawed. Key words: white meat, broiler breast, quality, freeze, thaw 2013 Poultry Science 92 : INTRODUCTION In research, it is often necessary to freeze meat for later use because of time and scheduling difficulties (Eastridge and Bowker, 2011). In quality assessment of poultry breast meat, the samples are often frozen in a 20 C freezer after they are collected. Two sample preparing or thawing methods are used to cook frozen breast meat for quality evaluation. One is to cook frozen meat directly from a frozen state (or thawing during cooking), and the other is to cook frozen meat after samples are thawed at a refrigerated temperature overnight. For example, Lyon and Lyon (1990) cooked intact muscles directly from a frozen state in a study on effects of deboning time and sample heating time on texture profiles of cooked broiler fillets (pectoralis 2013 Poultry Science Association Inc. Received September 25, Accepted August 4, Mention of a product or specific equipment does not constitute a guarantee or warranty by the USDA and does not imply its approval to the exclusion of other products that may also be suitable. 2 Corresponding author: hong.zhuang@ars.usda.gov major). However, in a study (Lyon et al., 2001) on effects of chill-storage regimens on sensory characteristics, broiler breast fillets were thawed overnight at 4 C before cooking. Lee et al. (2008) thawed the frozen meat samples ( 20 C) overnight at 4 C before cooking in research on both instrumental and sensory quality of commercial boneless skinless broiler breast fillets. Zhuang et al. (2007) cooked frozen meat directly from a frozen state to investigate variations in sensory quality, as well as cook yield and shear force, of boneless skinless broiler breast fillets purchased from local supermarkets. It has been demonstrated that the measurements of quality or quality indicators of frozen red meat can be significantly influenced by cookery from a thawed or frozen state. James and Rhodes (1978) found that beef joints cooked directly from frozen state were significantly tougher than those previously thawed. Obuz and Dikeman (2003) showed that beef steaks cooked from a frozen state had higher cooking loss, lower b* values (less yellow), and lower myofibrillar tenderness scores (less tender) than steaks cooked from a thawed state. Beef patties cooked after thawed had a more well-done 3003

2 3004 Zhuang and Savage appearance (van Laack et al., 1996), higher L* values, higher cooking yields, and lower shear force peak load, producing a greater number of smaller chewed pieces, less firmness, higher initial and final juiciness, and higher rate of chewed breakdown (Bigner-George and Berry, 2000). Quality effects of these 2 thawing methods were also noticed for white meat (broiler breast) recently. In the study of variation and correlation of Warner-Bratzler (WB) shear force measurements within broiler breast fillets deboned 2 h postmortem, Zhuang and Savage (2009) found that there was a large difference (79 versus 51 N) in shear force measurements between the broiler fillets that were cooked directly from the frozen state and those that were cooked after the frozen samples were thawed at a refrigerated temperature (4 C) overnight. In addition, the correlation coefficient between the fresh sample (cooked from a fresh state) and the frozen sample was 0.71; however, it was 0.53 for the thawed sample. These findings indicate that cookery of frozen meat directly from frozen or after thawed may also result in significantly different quality (including both instrumental and sensory) measurements or profiles of white meat. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to investigate effects of these 2 thawing methods on common quality measurements of cooked boneless skinless white meat, cook loss, muscle shear force, and sensory descriptive flavor and texture profiles by using poultry breast fillets. Results from this study would provide researchers with useful information about potential effects of thawing methods on quality measurements of frozen white meat and help both researchers and readers understand the possible differences in quality assessment results in literature. MATERIALS AND METHODS Broiler Breast Fillet, Fillet Color, and Fillet ph On each of the 4 replicate sampling days, breast fillets of 6-wk-old broilers (Cobb 500 meat line), which were processed by following the common practical procedure for broilers used for the US foodservice market, including low-voltage electrical stunning, scalding, and immersion chilling (Barbut, 2002; Sams and McKee, 2010), were collected from a deboning line of a local commercial processing plant (Athens, GA). The carcasses that were used for the boneless skinless fillet samples were aged at a refrigerated temperature for 6 to 8 h postmortem before deboning. The 6- to 8-h aging period is a standard practice used by many commercial broiler processors to meet both aging requirement for the tenderness of deboned breast meat and operation efficiency (Sams, 2002). For the present study, because the boneless skinless fillet samples were directly and randomly collected from a production deboning line, the actual aging time for each fillet collected could not be determined simply. However, there is a general agreement that for broiler breast meat, rigor mortis is completed in 1 to 3 h postmortem (Barbut, 2002). Published data have shown no differences in ph, color, water-holding capacity, and texture measurements between 6- and 8-h deboned fillets (Lyon et al., 1985; Perlo et al., 2010). These suggest that the possible differences between 6 and 8 h PM deboning time in this study might not affect the experimental results significantly. Within each replication, a total of 60 fillets were randomly chosen from the same deboning line at the same time of the day. Only the same side fillets were collected to avoid having 2 fillets from the same carcass used in the same treatment. Fillets were placed in plastic bags (in bulk), covered with ice, and transported in 36-L coolers (Igloo, Shelton, CT, internal dimension cm) to the laboratory within 20 min. Fillet color (L*, a*, and b* values on dorsal side) and ph (cranial end) were measured (n = 95 in total) using a spear probe according to the method of Zhuang and Savage (2010). The fillet samples were further selected based on color lightness to reduce quality variation due to raw materials. Only the fillets with medium color lightness (L* values failed between 51 and 64) in each replication were used for the evaluation. For each replication, 23 to 25 fillets were selected for each treatment. The L* values was between 51.1 and 63.4 and ph between 5.38 and 5.96 for replication 1, between 51.4 and 60.1 and between 5.32 and 5.84 for replication 2, between 51.8 and 61.6 and between 5.75 and 6.16 for replication 3, and between 51.8 and 59.6 and 5.58 and 6.05 for replication 4. Packaging, Storage, and Preparation for Cooking Breast fillets were individually weighed, vacuum packed (508 mmhg) in cooking bags (Seal-a-Meal bag, The Holmes Group, El Paso, TX), and then stored in a 20 C freezer (GER 14.9 Cu. Ft Manual Deforest Chest Freezer, General Electric Co., Fairfield, CT) until use (1 2 wk). Frozen samples were allowed to thaw in a refrigerator (2 C) overnight (appropriately 24 h) before being cooked or were cooked directly from the frozen state for cooking loss, WB shear, and sensory analysis. Cooking, Sampling, and Sensory Evaluation The bagged fillets were cooked in a Henny Penny MCS-6 Combi oven (Henny Penny Corp., Eaton, OH) to the endpoint temperature of 78 C and sampled by following the same procedures reported by this laboratory in Zhuang and Savage (2008). Samples were prepared for sensory analysis by cutting a 1.9-cm-wide strip parallel to fibers. This strip was then cut into 2 cubes of 1.9 cm. One was used for sensory texture evaluation and the other for sensory flavor evaluation. The bottom of a strip was also trimmed as needed to

3 ensure uniform sample cubes for the panel. The cubes were placed in coded Styrofoam cups and served to the panel immediately with a serving temperature of approximately 55 C (Liu et al., 2004). Sensory profiles included 8 texture and 10 flavor attributes (see Table 1 for the attributes and definitions). Samples were evaluated by a 7- to 8-member trained descriptive panel with at least 100 h of training in flavor and texture profiling and extensive experience in chicken fillet descriptive analysis using a spectrum-like method. During orientation sessions for this study, the lexicon and panel performance were validated through sampling, discussions, and reference materials in 12 h of panel time. A randomized complete block design was used for sample serving. Each replication involved one panel day, and within each day, all panelists received samples in the same order. Samples were presented to the panelists in a sequential, monadic order with a 20- min rest period between samples. The numerical intensity scale for each attribute ranged from 0 = none to 15 = very much, using a universal intensity scale (Meilgaard et al., 2007). For the lexicon used by the Spectrum method, the scales were anchored with multiple references (see the report by Zhuang et al., 2009). Testing was done in individual booths under sodium vapor masking lights using Compusense Five version 4.6 software (Compusense Inc., Guelph, ON, Canada). Filtered water and unsalted crackers were provided to the panelists for mouth cleansing between samples (Zhuang and Savage, 2008). Cook Loss and WB Shear Force MEAT THAWING METHOD AND QUALITY MEASUREMENT Cook loss was calculated as 100 minus the percentage of weight between the cooked weight and the weight before freezing. The WB shear of the cooked fillets was measured as described by Zhuang and Savage (2009). Statistics The instrumental data were collected based on completely randomized designs, and the sensory experiments were conducted using a randomized complete block design. Data from both instrumental and sensory evaluation were analyzed using the GLM procedures of SAS (SAS version 9.1, SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC). Factors included in the model were thawing method, replication, panel, and thawing method by replication interaction. The significant interactions were found for only sensory attributes juiciness and wetness (P < 0.05). The further analysis showed no significant differences (P > 0.05) for these 2 attributes between the 2 thawing methods within any of the replications. Therefore, only combined means were presented. Means were separated with the Tukey option at a significance level of RESULTS 3005 Because ph or color lightness values (or both) of raw broiler breast fillets are closely associated with both instrumental and sensory quality measurement results of the cooked samples (Qiao et al., 2002; Zhang and Barbut, 2005; Zhuang and Savage, 2010), these 2 parameters were measured after raw fillets were collected from the production line to avoid the quality effects by variations in raw materials between the 2 treatments. For the samples used in the frozen treatment, the average L* value (L* = 0 yields black and L* = 100 indicates diffuse white) was 56.7, the a* value (negative Table 1. Sensory attributes and definitions used by the descriptive analysis panel to evaluate test samples (Zhuang et al., 2009) Attribute Definition Texture phase 1. First few bites 1. Cohesiveness Distance you can bite into the sample before it breaks, cracks, crumbles first bite 2. Hardness Force to compress the sample with the molars during first 2 bites 3. Juiciness/dryness Amount of moisture coming from the sample during the first 5 chews Texture phase 2. Chew sample to bolus evaluate 4. Cohesiveness of mass Degree the chewed sample holds together in a wad 5. Bolus size Change in sample size with formation of bolus or wad 6. Wetness of wad Amount of moisture in the bolus 7. Rate of breakdown Rate the sample breaks down, fast to slow Texture phase 3. Evaluate at time of swallow 8. Chewiness Amount of work to chew the sample to the point of swallow (or spit out) Flavor phase 1. Aromatics Aromatic taste sensation associated with: 1. Meaty Combined aromatic taste sensation of meat 2. Chickeny Cooked white or dark chicken muscle 3. Brothy Meat stock 4. Cardboardy Cardboard, wet paper 5. Barnyard/wet feathers A chicken coop; combination of manure, moldy hay, feed, and poultry odors including wet poultry feathers 6. Bloody/serumy/metallic Raw or rare lean meat, blood, serum, or metal/iron Flavor phase 2. Basic tastes 7. Sweet Sugars and high potency sweeteners 8. Salty Sodium salts, especially sodium chloride (table salt) 9. Sour Acids 10. Bitter Caffeine or quinine

4 3006 Zhuang and Savage Table 2. Effect of thawing methods on Warner-Bratzler (WB) shear force and cook loss (mean ± SD) of boneless skinless broiler breast fillets 1 Thawing method WB shear force (N) values indicate green, whereas positive values indicate red) was 0.2, the b* value (negative values indicate blue and positive values indicate yellow) was 11.2, and ph was 5.8. For the sample used in the thawed treatment, the values were 56.4, 0.1, 11.4, and 5.8, respectively. There were no differences (P > 0.05) between the 2 samples for color lightness (L* value) and ph, suggesting that the measurements in cook loss, WB shear force, and sensory quality of the cooked samples were not likely to be due to quality differences in the raw materials themselves used in this study. Table 2 shows that there were significant differences (P < 0.05) for WB shear force and cook loss between the 2 thawing methods, with the fillets cooked directly from frozen having higher WB shear force value (by 6.4 N) and cook loss (by 2.2%). Table 3 shows average intensity scores for 8 texture and 10 flavor sensory attributes of breast fillets cooked from frozen or thawed. There were no significant differences (P > 0.05) in the average intensity scores between the 2 thawing methods for any of 10 flavor attributes and 4 texture attributes juiciness, cohesiveness of mass, bolus/wad size, and wetness of wad. The fillets cooked from frozen were scored 0.4, 0.36, 0.21, and 0.19 points higher (P < 0.05) than the fillets cooked after thawed, in a 0 to 15 intensity scale for the texture attributes cohesiveness, hardness, rate of breakdown, and chewiness, respectively. DISCUSSION Cook loss 2 (%) Frozen ± 8.69 a 21.2 ± 2.72 a Thawed ± 7.47 b 19.0 ± 2.58 b a,b Mean values with no common superscript in the same column are significantly different from each other (P < 0.05). 1 n = 90 for thawed cook loss and shear force, 78 for frozen WB shear force, and 93 for frozen cook loss. 2 Cook loss = (cooked fillet weight/raw fillet weight immediately after deboning). For the thawed samples, the cook loss included both thaw loss and cook loss. Freezing is a common practice in the meat industry to preserves meat quality and safety for an extended time (Leygonie et al., 2012). The quality of frozen food can be affected by the freezing and thawing processes. The rate of freezing determines the size of ice crystals in meat. Thawing generally occurs much slowly than freezing and causes chemical and physical changes and tissue damage (Li and Sun, 2002). Cookery of frozen meat directly from a frozen state or from a thawed state has been considered as 2 different thawing methods for meat preparations: thawing during cooking (or cooked thawed) or thawing before cooking (Vail et al., 1943; Kalen et al., 1948; Ferger, 1970; Berry et al., 1971; Moody et al., 1978; Jones et al., 1980), respectively. The study of effects of these 2 thawing methods on cook loss, shear force, and sensory quality of frozen red meat were intensively conducted and can trace to 1930s when the modern frozen food industry was born (National Frozen and Refrigerated Foods Association, 2009). Results appear to differ from experiment to experiment. For cook loss of red meat beef or pork, Paul and Child (1937), Vail et al. (1943), Berry et al. (1971), Moody et al. (1978), Berry (1998), Bigner-George and Berry (2000), and Obuz and Dikeman (2003) demonstrated that cooking from thawed states resulted in significantly less weight loss than cooking from frozen states. However, Kalen et al. (1948), Lowe et al. (1952), Fenton et al. (1956), Lind et al. (1971), and James and Rhodes (1978) showed no differences in cook loss between these 2 thawing methods. Causey et al. (1950) found that cooking from frozen states resulted in less weight and drip losses of lamb patties than cooking from thawed states. For shear force and sensory palatability of cooked red meat, Bigner-George and Berry (2000) found that beef patties cooked after thawing had a much lower shear force peak load, and were more tender and juicier than cooked from a frozen state. However, Stites et al. (1989) and Obuz and Dikeman (2003) found no significant differences in juiciness, tenderness, beef flavor, or shear force. Moody et al. (1978) studied the effects of thawing methods on shear force and sensory quality using both beef steaks and roasts. They found that for beef steaks, samples cooked thawed were tenderer than cooked frozen. However, for beef roasts, Table 3. Mean scores (0 15 scale) of sensory descriptive attributes for boneless skinless broiler breast fillets cooked directly from frozen state or after being thawed (mean ± SD) 1 Sensory attribute Frozen Thawing method Thawed Texture 1. Cohesiveness 5.59 a ± b ± Hardness 5.14 a ± b ± Juiciness/dryness 5.73 ± ± Cohesiveness of mass 5.65 ± ± Bolus/wad size 4.49 ± ± Wetness of wad 6.29 ± ± Rate of breakdown 5.50 a ± b ± Chewiness 5.21 a ± b ± 0.64 Flavor 1. Meaty 5.68 ± ± Chickeny 5.42 ± ± Brothy 3.86 ± ± Cardboardy 3.55 ± ± Barnyard/wet feathers 2.70 ± ± Bloody/serumy/metallic 2.14 ± ± Sweet 2.94 ± ± Salt 2.88 ± ± Sour 2.65 ± ± Bitter 1.44 ± ± 0.44 a,b Mean values with no common superscript in the same row are significantly different from each other (P < 0.05). 1 Intensities with a higher number are stronger. n = 81 for the frozen treatment and 78 for the thawed sample.

5 MEAT THAWING METHOD AND QUALITY MEASUREMENT there were no differences in tenderness between the 2 methods. With electric griddles, Bigner-George and Berry (2000) concluded that thawing before cooking not only eliminated the problem of pink/red color after cooking but also improved sensory, shear force, and cooking properties of beef patties. However, Jakobsson and Bengtsson (1973) recommended cooking beef slices directly from a frozen state when pan frying. Although generally cooking red meat that is thawed slowly in a refrigerator results in less cook loss and greater texture tenderness compared with cooking from the frozen state, Obuz and Dikeman (2003) concluded that the effects depend on multiple factors, such as meat type, muscle type, cooking method, the size of the samples, and thaw losses. For boneless skinless white meat, there is very limited information about how these 2 thawing methods affect the quality or quality measurements compared with red meat in literature. Chicken breast muscle is white meat. White meat and red meat are composed of different muscle types and differ in their biochemical and physical properties. Red meat has a higher concentration of myoglobin and is lower in glycogen than white meat. White muscles twitch faster in response to stimulation, and contract and relax faster than red muscles (Cassens and Cooper, 1971). Experiments have shown that white and red muscles also have different responses to postmortem temperature. Lesiak et al. (1996) found that red muscle was more susceptible to cold shortening than white meat. Lower storage temperature produced greater water-holding capacity in white meat, whereas higher storage temperature resulted in the higher waterholding capacity in red meat. A couple of experiments also showed that thawing methods did significantly influence quality of frozen prerigor chicken breast fillets. Yu et al. (2005) found that high thawing temperature (18 C for 2 h) of frozen hot-boned chicken breast meat ( 20 C) resulted in increased thaw drip loss (more than 3 times) and shear force (about 2 times) compared with the samples thawed at 0 C for 24 h. Kim et al. (2011) showed that microwave thawing (with power levels of 125, 250, or 375 W) of frozen hot-boned chicken fillets resulted in significantly reduced thawing loss and shear force compared with 4 C refrigerator thawing. However, it is well known that frozen prerigor meat behaviors differently during thawing from frozen postrigor meat. Thawing frozen prerigor (or hot-boned) meat results in much tougher meat (called thaw rigor), which is not found when thawing postrigor meat (Locker and Hagyard, 1963; Kim et al., 2012). Recently, Shrestha et al. (2009) published the study on the effect of 2 thawing methods (refrigerator thawing at 0 to 2.7 C for 10 to 15.5 h or hot-water thawing at 60 C for 2 to 8.5 min dependent on sample thickness) on thaw loss and sensory quality (discriminative test) of cooked samples using the boneless chicken fillets purchased from a local grocery store. They found that the overall weight loss was significantly less when samples were thawed in a refrigerator compared with samples thawed in hot water, and 3007 the sensory panel could not tell differences in flavor, texture, and dryness between the 2 thawing methods. These results indicate that increased thawing temperature may not always result in poor quality or quality measurement results with cooked boneless white meat chicken breast regardless of meat rigor status. Data from this study showed that thawing during cooking significantly increased cook loss of frozen chicken breast fillets. This result agrees with several findings with beef (Vail et al., 1943; Moody et al., 1978; Obuz and Dikeman, 2003) and pork (Berry et al., 1971), and similar to the data published by Shrestha et al. (2009) for frozen postrigor chicken fillets as well as by Yu et al. (2005) for prerigor chicken breast meat, in which increased thawing temperature resulted in increased weight loss. Because the cook loss is negatively associated with the water-holding capacity (Barbut, 1993; Zhuang and Savage, 2010), this result suggests that cooking directly from frozen states results in reduced water holding of boneless skinless white meat than cooking from thawed states. The negative effect on cook loss or water-holding capacity of meat by thawing during cooking has been attributed to longer cooking time and an increase in evaporative losses that occur early during the cooking of frozen patties (Bigner-George and Berry, 2000). Although the cooking time was not measured in the present study, literature has shown that for red meat and bone-in, skin-on white meat products, it took substantially longer time (more than 1.2 times) to cook frozen meat directly from the frozen state than from the thawed state (Fulton and Davis, 1974, 1975; Jones et al., 1980; Berry, 1998). The data in the present study also showed that muscle shear force was higher when broiler fillets were cooked from the frozen state compared with that cooked from the thawed state. This is consistent with previous published data with poultry meat (Zhuang and Savage, 2009) and the findings reported by Smith et al. (1969), Bigner-George and Berry (2000), and Obuz and Dikeman (2003) with red meat. The higher WB shear force is positively associated with the tougher meat (Lyon and Lyon, 1997; Cavitt et al., 2005; Xiong et al., 2006). The present result indicates that for boneless skinless white meat, thawing during cooking results in tougher meat than thawing before cooking. It is generally agreed that freezing and thawing result in increased meat tenderness indicated with peak shear force. The mechanism is thought to be a combination of the breakdown of the muscle fibers by enzymatic action during thawing (or aging at a refrigerated temperature after the meat is removed from a freezer) and the loss of structural integrity caused by ice crystal formation (Leygonie et al., 2012). Crouse and Koohmaraie (1990) noticed that meat aged after freezing had significantly lower shear force values than meat aged before freezing and suggested that the difference might be due to increased proteolysis by calpains, a Ca ++ -dependent proteolysis system that hydrolyzes key structural myofibrillar proteins during postmortem aging and improves red meat

6 3008 Zhuang and Savage tenderness. Nakai et al. (1995) observed larger increment of peptides in frozen-aged beef than that in the fresh beef and concluded that freezing before aging resulted in increased proteolysis. Because both treatments in this study involved frozen fillets, the samples should have subjected to the same structural damage due to ice crystal formation. Therefore, the significantly lower WB shear force values of the meat samples cooked after thawing might result from proteolysis during thawing at a refrigerated temperature before cooking. In addition, longer cooking time and crust formation as a result of cooking from the frozen state were also hypothesized to be responsible for the higher muscle shear force (Bigner-George and Berry, 2000). For sensory flavor measurements, data from this study agree with majority of the red meat studies (Lind et al., 1971; Stites et al., 1989; Obuz and Dikeman, 2003) and also are consistent with our previously published results that few factors during processing can affect poultry meat flavor (Zhuang et al., 2007, 2009), further demonstrating that the effects of these 2 thawing methods on flavor of cooked white meat are too small for the trained sensory panel to notice. Shrestha et al. (2009) also found that sensory panelists could not distinguish a difference in flavor of grilled chicken breast meat between hot-water thawing and refrigerator thawing. For sensory texture measurements, significantly higher scores for attributes cohesiveness, hardness, and chewiness for fillets cooked from frozen concurred with the higher WB shear force measurement results. As summarized above for red meat, a few reports (Vail et al., 1943; James and Rhodes, 1978; Bigner-George and Berry, 2000) also showed that cooking from a frozen state resulted in less tender cooked meat compared with cooking from a thawed state. These results suggest that thawing method does not result in any noticeable differences in flavor, but could significantly affect texture of postrigor deboned and cooked white meat. In summary, results for the current study demonstrate that the method of thawing during cooking or thawing before cooking used to prepare samples for determining quality of cooked frozen boneless skinless white meat or broiler breast fillets does not affect sensory descriptive flavor profiles. However, they can significantly influence the measurement results of cook loss, shear force, and sensory descriptive texture profiles. Boneless skinless white meat cooked directly from a frozen state has more cook loss and higher shear force, and is more cohesive, harder, and chewier compared with breast fillets cooked breast fillets after they were thawed at a refrigerated temperature overnight. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors express their sincere thanks to Joseph Stanfield with the Quality and Safety Assessment Research Unit, USDA-Agricultural Research Service, Athens, Georgia, for his technical assistance during the study. We also thank our sensory panelists for their valuable participation. REFERENCES Barbut, S Color measurements for evaluating the pale soft exudative (PSE) occurrence in turkey meat. Food Res. Int. 26: Barbut, S Poultry Products Processing An Industry Guide. CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group LLC, Boca Raton, FL. Berry, B. W Cooked color in high ph beef patties as influenced by fat content and cooking from the frozen or thawed state. J. Food Sci. 63: Berry, B. W., G. C. Smith, J. V. Spencer, and G. 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