Effects of vegetable juice–based marination on some quality characteristics of chicken breast meat

In this study, the effects of marination with different vegetable juices on quality attributes of chicken breast meat were investigated. Chicken breast samples were marinated in onion (CO), spinach (CS), and tomato (CT) juices for 24 h, and subsequently analyzed for proximate composition, cooking loss, pH, Warner–Bratzler shear force, color, and sensory properties. Proximate composition analysis revealed that moisture and fat contents of the control and CT samples were statistically comparable (P<0.05), while no significant differences were observed among the samples with respect to protein and ash contents (P>0.05). Marination resulted in a reduction in meat pH; however, this decrease was statistically significant only in the CO samples (P<0.05). Cooking loss values did not differ significantly among the treatment groups (P>0.05). Color measurements indicated that CS samples exhibited the lowest L* and a* values (P<0.05). No significant differences were detected among the marinated samples in terms of b* values (P>0.05). Texture analysis demonstrated that CT samples showed significantly lower shear force values (P<0.05). Sensory evaluation revealed no statistically significant differences among samples in terms of appearance, flavor, juiciness, or tenderness (P>0.05). Overall, the findings suggest that vegetable juice–based marinades can be applied without adversely affecting the sensory quality of chicken breast meat while inducing specific physicochemical modifications.