Evaluation of Quality and Safety Attributes of Slaughtered Versus Dead Chicken Birds Meat

ABSTRACT The adulteration of dead chicken meat with halal meat is a concern in Pakistan that can harm safety of meat as well as religious beliefs of the Muslims. Accordingly, the present study was conducted to evaluate slaughtering methods (Islamic and decapitation) with dead chicken meat on composition, quality and safety attributes. Purposely, (n=24) birds were slaughtered and (n=12) dead birds samples were collected and subjected to proximate, mineral and quality analysis including pH, color (L*, a*, b*), cooking loss, texture, as well as thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), peroxide value (PV), haem and non-haem iron. The results indicated ash content, minerals and oxidation parameters including TBARS, PV affected significantly (p<0.05). The highest Iron (Fe) and Magnesium (Mg) levels reported in dead bird meat were 14.21±0.99 and 959.62±2.11 whereas, the lowest in halal slaughtered bird’s meat were 10.09±1.10 and 870.48±2.11, respectively. However, Manganese (Mn) was only detected in halal slaughtered bird meat. Likewise, pH of dead chicken meat was lowest among treatments however, L* was highest in halal slaughtered bird meat. Additionally, the lowest lipid oxidation and haem iron values reported in halal slaughtered meat were 0.32±0.02 and 2.32±0.21, lower than in decapitated and dead bird meat. Our findings draw lines between slaughtering methods and mineral analysis could be used for the differentiation of halal slaughtered meats with dead chicken meat.