Freshness and physicochemical properties of breast meat from chickens slaughtered by cervical neck dislocation or transverse neck incision

Traditional non-stunned slaughter techniques remain common in smallholder poultry production systems, yet their effects on breast-meat freshness and physicochemical quality remain poorly understood. This Research Note compared two on-farm slaughter methods, transverse neck incision (TNI) and cervical neck dislocation (CND), to determine how each slaughter method affects physicochemical characteristics of breast meat in 42-day-old male Ross 308 chickens. Birds (n = 50 per method) were slaughtered under veterinary supervision in accordance with national poultry-processing regulations. Breast fillets were assessed for water-holding capacity, drip loss, shear force, pH, and colour attributes at 24 h post-mortem, and pH and colour were monitored over 14 d of chilled storage to characterise freshness dynamics. TNI produced meat with higher water-holding capacity, lower drip loss, and more stable colour compared with CND (P < 0.05), while initial and ultimate pH values did not differ between methods. Regression analysis indicated linear or quadratic temporal shifts in colour parameters during storage, reflecting predictable ageing-related freshness decline. These findings demonstrate that TNI preserves meat functionality and freshness more effectively than CND, offering a practical option for improving product quality in resource-limited smallholder systems.