Comparisons of sensory descriptive flavor and texture profiles of cooked broiler breast fillets categorized by raw meat color lightness values 1

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1 Comparisons of sensory descriptive flavor and texture profiles of cooked broiler breast fillets categorized by raw meat color lightness values 1 H. Zhuang 2 and E. M. Savage USDA, Agricultural Research Service, Russell Research Center, PO Box 5677, Athens, GA ABSTRACT Three replicate trials were conducted to compare sensory descriptive profiles of cooked broiler breast fillets categorized by raw meat color lightness or CIE L* values. In each trial, 20 light, 20 dark, and 30 random fillets (42-d-old birds and deboned at 6 to 8 h postmortem) were obtained from a commercial processing plant. On return to the laboratory, CIE L* a* b* (medial side), ph, and weights were measured. Ten fillets for each of 3 lightness categories were chosen based on the L* values as follows: light, L* > 60; medium (middle of random group), 55 < L* < 59; and, dark, L* < 55. Cook yield, Warner-Bratzler shear force, and descriptive sensory attributes were measured on the chosen fillets after 7 d of frozen storage followed by cooking to an endpoint temperature of 78 to 80 C. Sensory evaluations were performed by trained descriptive panelists using universal intensity scales of 0 to 15 for 9 flavor and 8 texture attributes. Our results show that there were significant differences among the 3 lightness categories for ph, thaw loss, cook yield, and shear force. There were no significant differences in average flavor intensity scores between the 3 lightness categories. However, the average intensity scores of the texture attributes cohesiveness, hardness, rate of breakdown, and chewiness of the light fillets were significantly higher than either the dark or the medium fillets (P < 0.01), which did not differ from each other. These results indicate that sensory flavor profiles of cooked broiler breast fillets are similar regardless of raw meat color lightness (or L* values). There is no difference in the texture profiles between the cooked medium and dark fillets. But the sensory texture profile of fillets categorized as light based on CIE L* values is different from those of the fillets categorized as either medium or dark. Key words: broiler breast, color lightness, sensory, flavor, texture INTRODUCTION Raw meat color lightness, which is measured and expressed as the CIE color L* value (L*), has a close relationship with various physical and chemical properties and functionalities of both raw and cooked poultry breast meat. Barbut (1993) reported that the L* value had a significantly negative correlation with the ph of intact muscle, cooked gel strength, and cooking yield of turkey breast muscle from young toms. Boulianne and king (1995, 1998) found that the light broiler breast fillets had significantly less redness, greater yellowness, less total pigments, less myoglobin, less iron, and lower ph. The dark fillets had significantly lower yellowness and greater total pigment, myoglobin, iron, ph, and redness compared with the normal breast fillets. Allen 2010 Poultry Science Association Inc. Received August 26, Accepted February 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 2010 Poultry Science 89 : doi: /ps et al. (1998) reported that marination of broiler breast fillets was affected by the color of the meat. Fletcher et al. (2000) showed that variation in raw breast meat color also affected cooked meat color. Qiao et al. (2001, 2002a,b) noticed that extreme color variations, from very light to very dark, were significantly related with functional properties, such as moisture, water-holding capacity, emulsification capacity, marination uptake, cook yield, and cooked meat shear force and chemical composition, such as proteins and ash of broiler breast meat. Barbut et al. (2005) demonstrated that broiler breast meat with color lighter than normal had significantly lower salt-soluble protein extraction with less heavy myosin chains compared with dark, firm, and dry meat and larger intercellular spaces among muscle fibers and bundles compared with normal and dark, firm, and dry meat. Marinated and tumbled light breast fillets had higher unbound brine, and further cooking resulted in lower yield and higher shear force values compared with the other meats. Sensory aspects as well as nutritional values of meat are of utmost importance for consumers. Sensory quality, including texture, flavor, and appearance, which 1049

2 1050 can be measured only by the human senses of smell, taste, touch, sight, and hearing, is derived from consumer s feelings of quality and directly influences consumer s purchase and preferences of food. Komiyama et al. (2008) investigated consumer liking of general appearance, flavor, and tenderness of cooked pale chicken breast meat and did not find any significant difference between pale and normal breast fillets. However, there is no reported study on sensory descriptive profiles of poultry breast fillets (pectoralis major) with different color lightness in peer-reviewed journals. The objective of this study was to compare sensory descriptive flavor and texture profiles of cooked broiler breast fillets with lighter than medium (light), medium, and darker than medium (dark) color lightness, based on the L* values. The hypothesis was that because the meat color lightness of broiler fillets is significantly related with their physical and chemical properties such as protein structure and status, water-holding capacity, and shear force, light-colored meat might have different sensory descriptive profiles compared with dark-colored meat. MATERIALS AND METHODS Broiler Breast Fillet Categories, Color, and ph Broiler breast fillets (approximately 6 to 8 h postmortem) were collected from the deboning line of a local commercial processing plant (Athens, GA). Within each of 3 replications or different days, 30 fillets were randomly chosen and 20 light and 20 dark fillets were visually selected (210 fillets total for the study). Fillets were placed in plastic bags (in bulk by grouping) and were transported on ice in 36-L coolers (Igloo, Shelton, CT; internal dimension cm) to the laboratory within 20 min. Color (medial side) and ph were measured according to the method of Zhuang and Savage (2009). Fillets were separated into 1 of 3 categories (10 fillets/category) based on the L* values or color lightness: light, L* > 60 (ph range 5.38 to 5.82); medium, 55 < L* < 59 (ph range 5.59 to 6.00); and dark, L* < 55 (ph range 5.49 to 6.29). The range for the medium grouping was determined from the median L* values of the 30 randomly chosen fillets and some of the light and dark fillets were taken from the random set if their L* values fell within the desired range. Packaging and Storage Breast fillets were individually weighed, vacuumpacked (508 mmhg) in cooking bags (Seal-a-Meal bag, The Holmes Group, El Paso, TX), and then stored at 20 C for 7 d (Zhuang et al., 2007). The frozen fillets in plastic bags were allowed to thaw in a refrigerator (3 C) for 24 h before weighing for thaw loss. After weighing, the fillets were rebagged and held in the refrigerator (<2 h) until time to cook for sensory evaluation and Warner-Bratzler (WB) shear force values. Zhuang and Savage Cooking, Sampling, and Sensory Evaluation The bagged fillets were cooked and sampled by following the same procedures reported by this laboratory in Zhuang and Savage (2008). Sensory profiles included 8 texture and 9 flavor attributes (see Table 1 for attributes and definitions). Samples were evaluated by a 7- to 9-member trained descriptive panel with at least 100 h of training in flavor and texture profiling and the panel had extensive experience with chicken fillet descriptive analysis using a spectrum-like method. Before the beginning of the study, the attributes phases of evaluation, definitions, line scale anchors, and references were reviewed in 12 h of panel time. Data were collected using Compusense 5 Version 4.8 software (Compusense Inc., Guelph, Ontario, Canada) as described in our previous publication (Zhuang et al., 2009). Thaw Loss, Cook Yield, and WB Shear Force Thaw loss (%) was calculated as the percentage of weight difference of the thawed weight from the initial raw weight, and cook yield was calculated as the percentage of weight difference between the cooked weight and the thawed weight (Galobart and Moran, 2004a). Warner-Bratzler shear force values of the cooked fillets were measured as described in our previous publication (Zhuang and Savage, 2009). Statistics The sensory experiments were conducted using a randomized complete block design. All instrumental data, including color, ph, weights, thaw loss, cook yield, and WB shear force values, and sensory data were analyzed using the GLM procedures of SAS (SAS Version 9.1, SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC). The main factors that were evaluated for the instrumental data were color lightness (dark, medium, and light) and replication (no significant color lightness replication interaction was noticed at P < 0.05), and means were separated with the Tukey option at a significance level of The main factors that were evaluated for sensory data were color lightness, replication, and panelist (no significant interactions between these 3 factors were noticed at P < 0.01 level), and means were separated with the Tukey option at a significance level of The null hypothesis implied no difference in the measurement means between the different lightness groups of fillets. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Description of Fillets Used Tables 2 and 3 show characteristics and functionalities of raw and cooked broiler breast fillets used for our sensory profile study based on color lightness categories. The fillet color groupings, light, medium, and

3 RAW MEAT COLOR ON SENSORY DESCRIPTIVE PROFILES OF BROILERS 1051 Table 1. Sensory attributes and definitions used by a descriptive analysis panel to evaluate test samples Attribute Texture phase 1. First few bites Cohesiveness Hardness Juiciness/dryness Texture phase 2. Chew sample to bolus evaluate Cohesiveness of mass Bolus size Wetness of wad Rate of breakdown Definition Distance you can bite into the sample before it breaks, cracks, crumbles first bite Force to compress the sample with the molars during first 2 bites Amount of moisture coming from the sample during the first 5 chews Degree the chewed sample holds together in a wad Change in sample size with formation of bolus or wad Amount of moisture in the bolus Rate the sample breaks down, fast to slow Texture phase 3. Evaluate at time of swallow Chewiness Flavor phase 1. Aromatics Chickeny Brothy Barnyard/wet feathers Bloody/serumy/metallic Cardboardy Flavor phase 2. Basic tastes Sweet Salty Sour Bitter Amount of work to chew the sample to the point of swallow (or spit out) Aromatic taste sensation associated with: Cooked white or dark chicken muscle Meat stock A chicken coop; combination of manure, moldy hay, feed, and poultry odors including wet poultry feathers Raw or rare lean meat, blood, serum, or metal/iron Cardboard, wet paper Sugars and high-potency sweeteners Sodium salts, especially sodium chloride (table salt) Acids Caffeine or quinine dark, were significantly different from each other for L* (color lightness), ph, and thaw loss (or water-holding capacity). The L* value differences matched the color groupings, with the light category having the highest L* and the dark category having the lowest L*. The dark fillets had the highest average ph and the light fillets had the lowest average ph. The dark fillets had the lowest percentage of thaw loss, whereas the light fillets had the highest thaw loss. These differences agree with the results published for poultry breast meat classified by raw meat color lightness. Qiao et al. (2001) and Zhang and Barbut (2005) showed significant differences in L* values, ph, and water-holding capacity (drip loss) between light, normal, and dark chicken breast meat samples. In turkey breasts, a rapid ph decrease during postmortem aging is hypothetically responsible for high L* value readings and poor water-holding capacity of meat or for the formation of pale, soft, and exudative (PSE) meat (Sosnicki et al., 1998). After the cessation of blood flow at the time of death, the metabolism required adenosine triphosphate regeneration for muscle function changes from aerobic respiration to anaerobic glycolysis, which results in the accumulation of lactic acid and therefore ph reduction in muscles. A rapid decrease in ph value close to the isoelectric point of many of the major muscle proteins (such as sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar proteins) while carcass temperature remains high causes further protein denaturation and loss of their ability to attract and bind water (reduced meat water-holding capacity) and results in visual paleness (increased L* values) by affecting the translucency of meat (Swatland, 2008). Also in Tables 2 and 3, significant differences are shown for the average a* values, cook yields, and WB shear force values between the light fillets and either the medium or dark fillets, which were not different from each other. The light fillets exhibited lower a* values (less red) and cook yields and higher shear force measurements. For the average b* values, the light group was significantly higher (more yellow) than the dark group; however, the b* value of the medium group was not significantly different from either the light or the dark group. Boulianne and King (1995, 1998) reported that the light broiler breast fillets (higher L*) had significantly less redness (a*) and greater yellowness (b*); however, the dark fillets had significantly greater redness values and lower yellowness values compared with the normal breast fillets. Qiao et al. (2001, 2002a,b) Table 2. Raw material characteristics of broiler breast fillets (mean ± SD, n = 25) Fillet color Fillet weight (g) L* a* b* ph Dark 151 ± 16 a 52.6 ± 1.8 c 0.5 ± 0.8 a 11.4 ± 1.4 b 5.9 ± 0.2 a Medium 148 ± 15 a 57.2 ± 0.8 b 0.4 ± 0.7 a 12.4 ± 1.4 ab 5.8 ± 0.1 b Light 148 ± 16 a 63.0 ± 1.5 a 0.4 ± 0.8 b 13.1 ± 1.7 a 5.6 ± 0.1 c a c Mean values with no common superscript in the same column are significantly different from each other (P < 0.05).

4 1052 Table 3. Average thaw loss (%), cook yield (%), and Warner- Bratzler (WB) shear force values (N) of broiler breast fillets (mean ± SD, n = 25) Fillet color Thaw loss (%) Cook yield (%) found that increased mean broiler fillet lightness values were associated with decreased a* values and increased b* values among light, normal, and dark categories. Lighter than normal meat was associated with lower cook yield and higher shear values. Galobart and Moran (2004a,b,c) showed a negative correlation between L* value and a* value and positive correlations between L* value and b* value and between L* value and freezethaw loss in studies of freeze-thaw effects on functionalities and dimensions of broiler breast fillets. These agreements between our findings and published results demonstrate that both the raw and cooked broiler fillets used for our sensory profile comparisons had typical physical and functional properties for each meat color category. Sensory Descriptive Profiles WB shear force (N) Dark 3.4 ± 1.1 c 83.6 ± 1.9 a 31.4 ± 15.7 b Medium 4.8 ± 1.2 b 83.2 ± 1.9 a 33.3 ± 7.8 b Light 6.7 ± 1.1 a 80.9 ± 2.3 b 47.0 ± 14.7 a a c Mean values with no common superscript in the same column are significantly different from each other (P < 0.05). Table 4 shows average intensity scores for 9 flavor and 8 texture sensory attributes of cooked breast fillets categorized by raw L* values. Average flavor scores for all 3 color categories were in the low portion of the intensity scales of 0 to 15 (from 1.6 for bitter to 3.9 for brothy) except for the attribute chickeny, which was the most intense flavor attribute and scored 5.0 to 5.1. Average texture scores were all in the low to moderate portion (from 4.1 for bolus-wad size to 6.0 for wetness of wad and cohesiveness of mass). The range of our scores is in agreement with published literature that shows average intensity scores reported in the low portion of scales of 0 to 15 for flavor attributes and in the low to moderate portion for texture attributes when describing chicken breast fillets deboned between 6 and 8 h postmortem (Lyon et al., 2003; Liu et al., 2004). There were no significant differences in the average intensity scores between the 3 color lightness meat categories for the 9 flavor attributes, the moisture-related texture attributes, wetness of wad and juiciness, and the texture attributes cohesiveness of mass and boluswad size. The light fillets were scored significantly higher than the medium and dark fillets for the 4 texture attributes cohesiveness, hardness, rate of breakdown. and chewiness. There were no significant differences for these 4 attributes between the medium and dark fillet samples. These results indicate that the sensory flavor profiles of different color fillets are similar to each other. Zhuang and Savage It has been demonstrated that sensory flavor profiles of cooked chicken fillets with no additives are hardly influenced by chicken production, processing, and postprocessing practices. Fanatico et al. (2007) investigated the effects of slow- and fast-growing chicken genotypes raised indoors or with outdoor access on 15 sensory descriptive flavor attributes and found that there were no significant differences (P > 0.05) between either the 2 genotypes or between the 2 raising methods. Lyon et al. (2001) found no differences in sensory descriptive flavor profiles tested among broiler breast meat from various chill-storage regimens (from 4 to 18 C). Zhuang et al. (2007) reported no significant differences in flavor profiles among 6 different brands of boneless skinless chicken breasts products obtained from retail supermarkets in the Athens, Georgia area in The present study shows no relationships between sensory flavor profiles or quality and chicken fillets categorized by raw meat color lightness. Our results also indicate that the light, medium, and dark fillets have similar sensory texture moisture characteristics, juiciness and wetness of wad. In our study, juiciness was defined as a measure of the amount of moisture coming from the sample during the first 5 chews and wetness of wad was an evaluation of the amount of moisture in the bolus or wad once a bolus was formed (roughly the midpoint of the chew down). Light poultry fillets have been closely associated with poor water-holding capacity of meat and have consistently been found to lose more water during cooking or to have lower-poorer cook yields compared with darker Table 4. Sensory mean scores (0 to 15 scale) of descriptive attributes of cooked broiler breast fillets (pectoralis major) categorized based on raw meat color of medial side (mean ± SD, n = 25) 1 Sensory attribute Raw meat color Dark Medium Light Texture Cohesiveness 4.6 b ± b ± a ± 1.0 Hardness 4.6 b ± b ± a ± 0.7 Juiciness/dryness 4.9 a ± a ± a ± 0.9 Cohesiveness of mass 5.6 a ± a ± a ± 1.0 Bolus/wad size 4.4 a ± a ± a ± 0.9 Wetness of wad 6.0 a ± a ± a ± 0.9 Rate of breakdown 5.0 b ± b ± a ± 0.8 Chewiness 4.5 b ± b ± a ± 0.6 Flavor Chickeny 5.0 a ± a ± a ± 0.8 Brothy 3.8 a ± a ± a ± 0.8 Barnyard/wet feathers 2.5 a ± a ± a ± 0.7 Bloody/serumy/metallic 2.3 a ± a ± a ± 1.1 Cardboardy 3.3 a ± a ± a ± 0.6 Sweet 2.9 a ± a ± a ± 0.7 Salt 2.7 a ± a ± a ± 0.6 Sour 2.8 a ± a ± a ± 0.6 Bitter 1.7 a ± a ± a ± 0.5 a,b Mean values with no common superscript in the same row are significantly different from each other (P < 0.01). 1 Intensities with a higher number are stronger.

5 RAW MEAT COLOR ON SENSORY DESCRIPTIVE PROFILES OF BROILERS 1053 fillets (Barbut, 1993; Allen et al., 1998; Qiao et al., 2001; Barbut et al., 2005; Zhang and Barbut, 2005). However, the level of water loss or differences in water loss between the different color groups in our study obviously did not significantly affect the perception of juiciness by the descriptive panel. In other words, the cooked light fillets released a similar amount of moisture compared with the darker fillets in the first few bites (a combined effect of free water and water-binding force of meat) and the moisture level of the light fillets was also similar to that of the darker ones after the samples were chewed to bolus (a combined result of meat dryness-wetness and saliva from the mouth). This is in contradiction with the results reported in pigs. Sayre et al. (1964) found that PSE or light color pork muscles had lower juiciness scores compared with normal color muscles. Topel et al. (1976) reported that PSE pork scored lower than normal pork in juiciness satisfaction. Brewer et al. (1999) showed that regardless of marination treatment or cooking endpoint temperature, dark pork chops were juicier than either normal or PSE chops. One reason for the lack of the differences in sensory moisture characteristics between the light color fillets and darker color fillets may be that the fillet ph values or overlapping between treatments in our study, or both, could not result in enough differences in juiciness and wetness of wad for sensory panelists to perceive. As mentioned above, low ph value has been attributed to poor water-holding capacity of PSE meat. Myosin is the major water-binding protein in muscle, and its isoelectric point is 5.3. In PSE pork, the ph is close to 5.4 (Offer and Knight, 1988), whereas in the pale broiler fillets from the present study, the ph was 5.6 with a range from 5.38 to 5.82, indicating that many of the fillets had ph values away from myosin s isoelectric point and overlapping ph of the fillets in the normal (ph range 5.59 to 6.00) and dark (ph range 5.49 to 6.29) groups. Van Laack et al. (2000) found that the pale broiler breast meat with ph 5.7 had much lower drip loss compared with the PSE pork. The significant differences between the light, medium, and dark fillet color groups for the texture profile mechanical characteristics, cohesiveness, hardness, rate of breakdown, and chewiness, indicate that there are measurable differences in sensory texture profiles between the cooked samples. Although all color groups held together in a similar way (cohesiveness of mass) and remained similar in bolus size during chewing, the light fillets were initially more cohesive or resistant to coming apart and were harder or needed more force to compress. They also exhibited a slower rate of breakdown and were chewier (or took more work to complete the entire chewing process) than either the medium or dark color fillets. These results are in agreement with our WB shear force measurements on the same fillet samples. The light fillets showed significantly higher shear force values [more than 13 N or 1.4 kg of force (kgf)] than either the medium or dark fillets (no difference between medium and dark fillets) and required more force to rupture the muscle fibers. Strong relationships between WB shear force and the sensory descriptive texture attributes, cohesiveness, hardness, chewiness, and rate of breakdown, in chicken fillets have been demonstrated in published studies. Xiong et al. (2006) showed that Pearson correlation coefficients were 0.91 between hardness and WB shear force and 0.92 between cohesiveness and WB shear force. Lyon and Lyon (1997) found that Pearson correlation coefficients were 0.94 between WB shear force and cohesiveness, 0.91 between WB shear force and hardness, 0.93 between WB shear force and chewiness, and 0.89 between WB shear force and rate of breakdown. Zhuang et al. (2007) reported that the Spearman correlation coefficients were 0.83 between WB shear force and both cohesiveness and hardness and 0.89 between WB shear force and chewiness. These relationships suggest that WB shear force measurements can be used to reflect the intensity measurements of the sensory texture characteristics, cohesiveness, hardness, chewiness, and rate of breakdown, or can reflect the combined effects of these 4 texture characteristics, further confirming the significant differences found between the different color meat groups for the sensory texture properties. Differences in average WB shear force values have also been observed or reported between marinated light, normal, and dark chicken fillets and are considered to result from higher moisture loss from light meat before and after cooking and may also be associated with more protein toughening due to ph-induced denaturation (Barbut et al., 2005). Raw meat color lightness associated with PSE fillets has become a concern to the poultry industry and poultry meat quality research because there are close relationships between light color and poor functionality or quality in poultry fillets, which can negatively affect further processed poultry meat products. Compared with the darker meat, light color or PSE meat has been shown to have significantly lower water-holding capacity (higher drip loss) and larger intercellular spaces among muscle fibers and bundles; significantly lower emulsification capacity, marinated yield, and brine uptake during marination and further processing; more protein damage during freezing; more lost liquid and production of a softer gel during cooking; and significant differences in instrumental texture measurements, texture profile analyses and shear force, after cooking (Barbut, 1993; Allen et al., 1998; Qiao et al., 2001; Barbut et al., 2005; Zhang and Barbut, 2005). Our present study contributes further information that expands beyond the previously reported instrumental measurements of meat functionalities (including protein properties, microscopic structure, water-holding capacity, and shear force) to include human perceptions of meat, showing that raw meat light color with significantly lower average ph and water-holding capacity (indicated by both higher thaw loss and lower cook yield) or PSE with a low ph can also affect sensory mechanical texture characteristics of cooked poultry fillets.

6 1054 Xiong et al. (2006) published a study on the relationships between shear force measurements and both sensory descriptive and consumer texture attributes of broiler breast meat deboned at 9 different postmortem times, which resulted in a wide range of instrumental shear values and sensory scores. Their results showed that there were significant and strong correlations between WB shear force values and the intensity scores of descriptive texture attributes (0- to15-point universal scales), which included initial hardness, cohesiveness, hardness, and numbers of chews to swallow, and category responses for consumer texture attributes (9 categories) that included texture acceptance, tenderness acceptance, and intensity of tenderness. The consumer and the descriptive attributes were also significantly and strongly correlated. A regression model was developed for prediction of tenderness acceptance ( 0.4 WB shear force values = tenderness acceptance) and showed that every 1 kgf unit change (or 9.8 N) in WB shear force values resulted in a 0.4-unit change in tenderness acceptance. Every unit change in initial hardness resulted in 1.2-unit changes in tenderness acceptance and every unit change in cohesiveness resulted in 0.78-unit changes in tenderness acceptance. In the present study, the differences in mean WB shear force values between the light fillets and the darker fillets were <16 N (1.6 kgf), the differences in the mean hardness scores were 0.9, and the differences in the mean cohesiveness scores were 1.3. Our results would be equivalent to a 1-point difference in consumer liking measurements based on the relationship between the average sensory descriptive intensity scores and the average sensory consumer category responses. For example, the darker fillets deboned 6 to 8 h postmortem would be liked moderately by consumers, whereas the light ones would be liked slightly on the hedonic scale of 1 to 9. These small differences may not be important to consumer acceptance. Komiyama et al. (2008) reported that there were no significant differences in consumer liking between pale and normal breast fillets. In summary, there were no differences in average intensity scores of sensory descriptive flavor characteristics between the light, medium, and dark broiler breast fillet color categories, indicating that the sensory descriptive flavor profiles of the cooked fillets with the different color lightness did not differ from each other. The fillets with the higher L* values showed significantly higher intensity scores for the mechanical texture attributes, cohesiveness, hardness, rate of breakdown, and chewiness, compared with those of either the medium or dark fillets, demonstrating that the lighter fillets had different texture profiles than the darker fillets. For all of the sensory flavor and texture attributes tested in this study, there were no differences in the average intensity scores between the medium and dark color fillets, suggesting that the medium and dark color fillets have very similar sensory descriptive flavor and texture profiles or that consumers would not be able to tell the Zhuang and Savage difference in both flavor and texture between these 2 categories of fillets. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank Joseph Stanfield and Elece Turnipseed (Agricultural Research Service, USDA, Athens, GA) for their technical assistance during the study. We also thank our sensory panelists for their valuable participation. 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