Reduction of red blood spots in cooked marinated chicken breast meat by combined microwave heating and steaming

One of the defects commonly found in cooked marinated chicken breast products is a red blood spot (RBS), which is caused by undercooked blood in vessels. This problem was alleviated by micro-wave (MW) pre-heating for 6 to 7 min, followed by steaming. RBS formation decreased when samples were heated to a core temperature of 80 degrees C and were completely eliminated at a core temperature of 82 degrees C and 85 degrees C when a MW pre-heating step was applied for 7 min. Based on synchrotron-based Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (SR-FTIR), blood remaining in the blood vessel had a lower a-helical content when samples were cooked by the combination of MW heat-ing and steaming as compared with those prepared by steaming alone (P < 0.05). MW pre-heating decreased cooking time by 28 to 48% as compared with steaming alone. Heating regimes had no effect on cooking loss, pH, water-holding capacity, and shear force. MW pre-heating for 7 min followed by steaming to a core tem-perature of 82 degrees C appeared to be an effective heating regime to reduce the occurrence of RBS, with accept-able cooking loss.

Automated summary

One of the defects commonly found in cooked marinated chicken breast products is the presence of red blood spots (RBS), which is caused by undercooked blood in the vessels. This study found that pre-heating the samples with microwave for 6 to 7 minutes, followed by steaming, alleviated the formation of RBS. The combination of microwave pre-heating for 7 minutes and steaming to a core temperature of 82°C was effective in reducing the occurrence of RBS.