Integrated quality and non-destructive spectroscopic assessment of breast myopathies in broiler chickens

ENG- Wooden breast (WB), spaghetti meat (SM), and white striping (WS) are emerging musculoskeletal disorders in broiler chickens, closely associated with rapid growth rates and known to negatively impact meat quality. These myopathies primarily affect the breast muscle, and are characterized by structural changes such as fibrosis and lipidosis. Their high incidence and prevalence in the poultry industry make them a pressing concern, leading to significant costs related to detection, sorting, diversion, and, in some cases, condemnation of affected meat. The main objective of this thesis was to uncover the relationship and interaction of the different myopathies in chicken breasts and its impact in meat quality, investigate their effect during shelf-life, and finally set up non-destructive technologies that assess and discriminate them. A significant positive correlation between meat with WB and WS was found, while those with SM were independent. The cranial (upper section) of the fillets was discovered to harbour myopathies more frequently. In addition, WB-affected breasts, whether alone or in combination, showed the most pronounced alterations: heavier carcasses with higher breast yield and redder and yellower skin; breasts with higher luminosity and yellowness, increased moisture, fat and collagen and lower protein content, greater cooking loss and reduced shear resistance. During refrigerated storage, WB had more detrimental effects than SM on the stability of breasts, and both differed from normal breasts, with results of microbial counts and willingness to purchase demonstrating it. A visible and near-infrared (VIS-NIR) hyperspectral imaging (HSI) system was evaluated as a non-destructive technology for myopathy discrimination and shelf-life monitoring. HSI was suitable since it allowed for region selection, tailoring myopathy presence in multiply-affected breasts. The technology was successful in classifying myopathies (76.1% accuracy), especially SM (94.0% accuracy), and storage days of breasts (99.3% accuracy). Finally, spectral signatures of WB myopathy were explored using fluorescence emission, Raman and NIR spectroscopy. NIR allowed for the detection of moisture and water-binding, while Raman and fluorescence displayed information regarding collagen and fat content, recognizing WB severity. Overall, the work confirms and expands upon previous research by exploring (1) the effects of myopathy co-occurrence, (2) the spatial distribution of lesions, (3) the qualitative distance between myopathies and (4) their impact on shelf-life under commercial conditions