A comparison of meat characteristics between duck and chicken breast

Twenty four broilers (Ross) and 24 ducklings (Cherry berry) aged 45 days were stunned and killed by conventional neck cut to evaluate the meat characteristics and fatty acid composition of breast meat. Breast meats were removed from each carcass at different post-mortem times. After complete processing, the breast meats were then placed in a polythene bag and kept in a cold storage room at 4 degrees C for 7 days. The pH of meat samples at different post-mortem times, and meat characteristics and fatty composition at different storage times were evaluated. No significant differences were found in pH at different post-mortem times except at 30 min postmortem, where duck breast showed significantly lower pH than chicken breast. As expected, duck breast meat had significantly higher redness (a*), but lower lightness (L*) value compared to chicken breast. During whole storage time, the a* value remained constant in duck breast. Cooking loss (%) was higher in duck breast compared to chicken breast during the whole storage time. Shear force decreased with increasing storage time in both chicken and duck breast meat, moreover, it decreased rapidly in duck breast compared to chicken breast. The TBARS values increased with increasing storage time in both duck breast and chicken breast meat and was significantly higher in duck breast. The fatty acids (%) C14:0, C16:0, C16:1, C18:2 and C18:3 were significantly higher while C18:0 was significantly lower in duck breast compared to chicken. SFA was increased, while USFA and MUSFA decreased only in duck breast during the 7 day storage time.